


Hope's Twilight

by CatContessa



Series: The Tragedy of Class 80 [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Komaeda kills someone in the first chapter, M/M, OC-centric, lots of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-25 08:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2616014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatContessa/pseuds/CatContessa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hope's Peak Academy. Any student selected to attend is guaranteed success in their specific field of expertise after graduating. The school became a beacon of hope for the world to see, as it only chose and turned out the best of the best into the world. However, as funding grew more and more limited, the school was forced to limit acceptance of students and kept only those who were the most remarkable in their field, while shoving the unremarkables into the reserve classes. </p><p>Then it happened. The killing game that claimed the lives of the student council and sent the reserve classes berserk when they learned that every hard-earned cent was going towards the senseless murder of students. Soon, the madness spread outside the school walls and, slowly, to every part of the world. Hope's Peak exiled these students and put the entire school on lockdown, keeping the remaining students inside. </p><p>This is the story of Class 80 in the last days of Hope's Peak Academy before the incident of Class 78. </p><p>This is the tale of Hope's Twilight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wilted Flower

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY SO this is basically just an OC-centric fic I made as an excuse to put my OCs through something a little different to a killing game- let's face it, I can't write trials or investigations worth jack. OC/Canon does make a mention in the fic but it's not major.

Hope's Peak Academy. Any student selected to attend is guaranteed success in their specific field of expertise after graduating. The school became a beacon of hope for the world to see, as it only chose and turned out the best of the best into the world. However, as funding grew more and more limited, the school was forced to limit acceptance of students and kept only those who were the most remarkable in their field, while shoving the unremarkables into the reserve classes.   
  
Then it happened. The killing game that claimed the lives of the student council and sent the reserve classes berserk when they learned that every hard-earned cent was going towards the senseless murder of students. Soon, the madness spread outside the school walls and, slowly, to every part of the world. Hope's Peak exiled these students and put the entire school on lockdown, keeping the remaining students inside.   
  
This is the story of Class 80 in the last days of Hope's Peak Academy before the incident of Class 78.   
  
This is the tale of Hope's Twilight. 

\--

The gardens were always quiet this time of day. The sun was still shining, warm as ever, the wind gently ruffled the grass and the leaves in the trees, and the vibrant colours of the flowers that were carefully nurtured by the school beautification commitee were as much a joy to see as they always had been. Chisato Ueda, Super High School Level Botanist, regarded them happily, despite her worries. Following the riots that had broken out only weeks earlier and the violence that was spreading to the outside world, she had been up late at night with her mind absolutely racked with anxiety and she hadn't slept well in days. It had been getting her in trouble with her teachers and the Super High School Level Hall Monitor, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, much like earlier. His shouting had scared her, and now she was here, finding her solace among the flowers. Plants were easier to understand; not only because it was her field of expertise, but because plants were quiet and were simple in how they worked, not like people who were noisy and complicated. It made her happy to be tending to them or to just be alone with them.   
  
"It's too nice a day for you to be out here by yourself, Chisato-chan."  
  
Chisato gasped and turned suddenly to find a white-haired boy standing behind her, and she calmed down soon enough. "Don't scare me like that, Nagito-kun," she sighed.   
  
Nagito Komaeda, Super High School Level Good Luck, chuckled warmly and smiled. "Sorry. I was just wondering why you were out here and not in class."  
  
"Ishimaru scared me again." Chisato started to fiddle with the hem of her blazer. "He's always too loud. I haven't been sleeping well, so I've been more skittish than usual."  
  
"That's understandable," Said Komaeda as he sat down beside his girlfriend and took her hand. It was a small contact and just enough for Chisato to stand so far. "I wouldn't blame you, given the circumstances."  
  
"I just wish we could be told what was going on out there," Chisato huffed. "The riots were contained, but now it's spreading. I'm so worried about Grandpa, his health's bad enough as it is...!" She was starting to choke up as her eyes filled with tears. "I feel so useless just sitting here! What if he dies with no one at his side?! What if I can't help anyone?!" She burst into tears and gripped Komaeda's hand. Komaeda just sighed, smiling as he took his hand away, then moved behind Chisato just enough that he could put his arms around her shoulders and hold her close. 

"You've got so much weight on your little shoulders, Chisato-chan," He said softly. "You're so busy worrying."

"I can't help it...!" Chisato cried. "I just don't want anyone else to die, but I don 't know if anything I can do would be useful to anyone...!"

Komaeda pressed a gentle kiss to the back of Chisato's head. "You have such a big heart. You say you don't understand people and yet here you are, worrying about everyone like that...it's one of the things I love the most about you." Komaeda kept talking to her, telling her how wonderful and kind and smart she was until she eventually calmed down, and Chisato just let him hold her like this. She could tolerate contact of this kind at the moment. "I love you so much, Chisato-chan," Komaeda told her.  
  
And suddenly she felt a sharp pain and her mouth and throat filled with blood. Her throat had been cut! She clamped a hand over the wound as she writhed on the ground in pain. She looked up at Komaeda, and in her last moments she could see the crazed look in his eyes and the glint of the knife in his hands, hear his manic laughter that reverberated in her ears. She only managed to choke out the first three syllables of Komaeda's name before the world went dark. 

\--

Hikari Nanase hated sneaking around, but on this day, the Super-High-School-Level Conservationist had no other choice if she wanted to avoid the Hall Monitors. Her friend hadn't turned up to class, and Chisato never skipped classes. Next to Yukari Shimizu, Super High School Level Philosopher, she was the model student of Class 80, so Chisato skipping class was automatically suspicious, and their worried teacher, Miss Nago, had asked Hikari to go find her, however, she hadn't found anything yet, and she was starting to panic. She'd searched the halls, the empty science rooms, the dormitories, the library, the bathrooms and the dining hall, but still nothing. What if she'd been taken on her way to class, Hikari thought anxiously. Students had been disappearing as of late, never to be heard from again or turning up dead days later, and Hikari dreaded the thought of one of her best friends ending up that way.   
  
Eventually, Hikari came to the school gardens, where she saw someone lying on the grass. She stepped out and walked closer to it. At first, she felt relief. It was Chisato, obviously, judging by her characteristic coke-bottle glasses sitting on top of her backpack. She must have just had a nap at recess and slept in a bit, that's all. 

"Chisato-chan, you know you're not allowed to be out here during class," Hikari chided playfully as she walked closer. "What, was Kiyotaka giving you trouble--" She was cut off mid-sentence when she saw the blood and the horrifying look on Chisato's face, and once she saw the gaping wound in her throat, Hikari screamed. Windows opened and students stuck their heads out to see what was happening while others flooded the halls. First to her side was the Super High School Level Detective, Kyouko Kirigiri, who looked down at Chisato's lifeless corpse with concern before kneeling and closing her eyes. Hikari had burst into tears by now, and Kyouko stood to console her, putting an arm around her shoulder, before telling a teacher to bring a tarp from the bio lab and another student, a hall monitor, to take Hikari away to her room while she began her work. Hikari was still insonsolable as she was led away by the hall monitor, and as much as she hated being carted around like this and as much as she hated the new (but hastily thrown-together) student council's lackeys, her thoughts were on what she'd seen. Why would anyone want to kill Chisato? She didn't have a bad bone in her body! No one really hated her at all, not to the point where they would want to kill her at least! It just didn't make sense. They passed Naoto Sohma, Super High School Level Biologist and Hikari and Chisato's friend, on the way and he stopped the hall monitor for a moment. 

"Hikari-kun, what's the matter?" He asked. "What happened?!"

"It's Chisato-chan...!" Wailed Hikari. "She's...she's...!" Hikari burst into tears again and Naoto took her from the hall monitor, insisting that he'd get Hikari back to her dorm room, and the two held each other as Naoto soon joined in Hikari's grief and the two mourned the loss of their beloved friend and colleague.

\--

Mika Morikawa dabbed at her eyes gently with her handkerchief, trying to be careful as she dried her tears away. The Super High School Level Mortician had been trying to keep herself together since the announcement that Chisato had been killed. She had known Chisato well- the two had been in almost every single class together, and the two had an appreciation for classical music. To know that her innocent and determined soul was no longer in this world weighed heavily on Mika's shoulders, so did the knowledge that she would be asked to dress the corpse for a funeral. She had started picking out the different textiles she was going to use to dress the body from some bolts of cloth in the textile room when she was joined by her beloved, Tsuneo Kurenai; Super High School Level Samurai. He silently placed his hand on her shoulder and Mika eased into his touch so easily.

"I never imagined I'd be doing this for one of our dear friends, Kurenai-kun," She sighed sadly. "Dear Chisato-chan...so full of potential. Nanase-san and Sohma-san must be devastated." 

"Kyouko Kirigiri is questioning her at the moment," Tsuneo informed her. "She suspects the culprit is still in the school."

"I hope she catches him," Said Mika. "Chisato would want him caught." She lifted a bolt of cloth off the rack and walked over to one of the tables to measure it out, then took out her handkerchief again and dabbed lightly at her eyes. "Is there any talk of a suspect?"

"Not yet."

"What do you suppose, then?" She asked him. 

Tsuneo crossed his arms. "I would suspect those closest to her. In particular, Komaeda Nagito."

"Her boyfriend?"

"It seems most likely," Said a new voice. The two turned to see the Super High School Level Detective standing behind them. "He hasn't been seen since the murder."

"Isn't there anything Chisato's body could tell you, Kirigiri-dono?" Mika asked her. 

"Apart from the fact that she knew her attacker, not that much," Sighed Kyouko. "I've interviewed Nanase and Sohma. I just need to speak to you, Morikawa-san, and then I'm going to find Komaeda."

Mika took a seat and neatly folded her hands in her lap. "If there's anything you want to know, I'm an open book." Tsuneo stood at her side as Kyouko sat down across from them and asked Mika questions.   
  
Between herself and the Super High School Level Chess Player, Ayano Ayanokoji, she and Mika knew everything about everyone in Class 80. Kyouko would have no problem extracting information from her, especially in such desperate times and especially when her eyes and ears stood right next to her and her best friend was among the most affluent of Hope's Peak student population. Kyouko quickly had all she needed, but before she left, she asked one more question: "How was Chisato's relationship with Nagito Komaeda?"

"He's never mistreated her once," Mika explained. "Though I have heard she caught Junko Enoshima flirting with him not that long ago, but she didn't seem to let it get to her. Strange, isn't it?" 

Kyouko gave a thoughtful 'hm' before she bid her goodbyes and left the room, leaving Mika to her work. 

\--

The funeral came with the news that Chisato's grandfather had died, and it was impossible to bury them together. The students all gathered in the gymnasium, dressed in their uniforms and all of Class 80 wearing black bands around their arms. Chisato was laid in a coffin just in front of the stage, the lid to one side, and her classmates came up one by one and laid flowers at the foot of it as they passed it on their way to their seats at the front- some students from other classes even came and left some and said a few words, even her long-time rival, Ryouta Hoshino, Super High School Level Florist, who went as far as to say, or so some went on to tell, that he was sorry for criticising her and that he hoped her afterlife was a good one, which was strange to hear coming from someone that resented almost everyone around him. Even stranger was that one among Class 78 lingered perhaps a bit longer than the others, then walked off to his seat as if holding back the urge to cry. Hikari and Naoto couldn't stop each other's tears as Yukari Shimizu gave a speech on behalf of Class 80 as a goodbye to Chisato, thanking her for offering her silent understanding to her classmates and her great heart that ached for so many, and the Principal, Jin Kirigiri bade his farewells to Chisato and thanked her for her talents that brought the gifts of nature to the world. During the service, some among Class 80, 79 and 78 sneered and glared and whispered as Nagito Komaeda stumbled to the front and fell to his knees at Chisato's coffin, tears streaming down the boy's face. 

Tsubasa Yamano, Super High School Actor, turned to his cousin, Shiori Ikeda, Super High School Level Soprano, with a scowl on his face. "Has he no shame?" He scoffed. "I'll bet he murdered Chisato."

"Only a psychopath would attend his victim's funeral," Shiori remarked coldly. "I warned Ueda. I told her he was out of his mind." She crossed her arms. "Not her fault, though; that boy was never capable of thinking for himself in the first place. Komaeda didn't deserve someone like Chisato, she was too good for him. If you ask me, if anyone deserves to die, it would definitely be him."

Some distance away, Ayano Ayanokoji was watching the scene and surveying it carefully, strategies already forming in her mind. The chess player had, in some sense, seen this coming. The person responsible for the riots in the reserve classes that spread outside the school was more than likely behind this and had pulled Komaeda's strings to make him kill Chisato, though how and why she hadn't manage to ascertain just yet. Repressing a smirk, she quietly surveyed the crowd, worked out the pieces on the board, and formed her strategies. There was a reason the Ayanokoji family rivalled the Kuzuryu, after all- and she planned to come out on top, no matter what it took to do so. 

\--

The remaining students of the reserve classes were gathered in one classroom as Ayano surveyed them. These students were the few who chose not to be completely stupid when the riots started and had put themselves in her employ for the sake of still feeling like they have a purpose. Pawns, Ayano concluded, were so laughably desperate for meaning and purpose. It was like it was all these simple, talentless morons wanted, but her quarry was taking this to extremes that even she wouldn't even dare to even touch upon. Most likely, she was sentencing these kids to death by sending them out with the promise of becoming a part of her growing yakuza family and finding some use for themselves, but it had to be done for the good of the school and for the sake of stopping the senseless violence brought upon the world by Ultimate Despair.

"Welcome, my friends," She said sweetly. "I do hope that you aren't being incovenienced by any of this, but this is an urgent matter, after all." The reserve class students looked to each other nervously. "As you are all well aware, many of Hope's Peak's students have been murdered recently by your classmates. I understand you all wanted nothing to do with it, but I am presenting you all with a chance to get to the bottom of it. I plan to find the person behind it and I would very much love to have you all listed with me in the history books when we stop this atrocity- but there is a catch: you all have to join the Ayanokoji family and swear loyalty to me."

"What if we don't want to?!" Snapped a student. 

Ayano just shrugged. "Then you're free to just leave. I won't stop you and I'm not forcing you to be here, after all." The student went quiet and Ayano gave them their assignment; pursue the following students: Nagito Komaeda, Teruteru Hanamura, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, Peko Pekoyama, Hiyoko Saijoni, Nekomaru Nidai, Mahiru Koizumi, Kazuichi Souda, Gundam Tanaka, Princess Sonia Nevermind, Ibuki Mioda, Tsumiki Mikan, Akane Owari, Mukuro Ikusaba, Junko Enoshima and Byakuya Togami. She sent them out with orders to report on these persons of interest, then walked off to find Jirou Abe, Super High School Level Confectioner. She had a bridge to build if she was going to get anywhere.   
  
With luck, she found Jirou in the home economics classrooms and closed the door behind her. "Got a minute, Jirou-chan?" She asked flirtaciously. 

Jirou sighed as he set down the spoon he had preciously been mixing with. "Stop calling me that," He told her sternly. "I'm not your dog."

"I have a proposal for you," Ayano continued, sauntering over like a cat. "A proposal that could very well guarantee our survival."

"From an Ayanokoji?" Jirou scoffed. "Not likely."

"Look, Jirou-kun," Ayano sighed, dropping her flirtacious tone. "I know what happened between our families was ugly, but I wasn't even in charge of that at the time. I need your help to bring down Ultimate Despair."

Jirou quirked an eyebrow. Ayano Ayanokoji asking for his help after her father had so ruthlessly commanded the death of his parents?! She was lucky that he hadn't taken her life, but since he was in a good mood today and she'd stopped calling him Jirou-chan for once... "I'm listening," He replied eventually. "But this had better be worth my time."

Ayano gave a cat-like grin in response and chuckled lowly. "Excellent."


	2. Checkmate?

It had been some weeks since then, and with no reply from her agents outside the walls of the school, Ayano Ayanokoji was starting to get annoyed. Her agents inside the school had been reporting in, but they had been picked off one by one, either by the ones they were pursuing or by one among them who knew something she did not know, but she had been quite safe since her agreement with Jirou. He had been useful with his remarkable marksmanship skills, maintaining his end of the bargain by taking out any potential attackers. So far he had picked off most of Ayano's enemies, as well as those who sought to kill any remaining agents of hers. As she walked through the school halls towards her dorm rooms, happily uninterrupted by Ishimaru, the hall monitor (poor fool, he still didn't know that even his best friend and his whole gang were wound tight around her pretty little finger thanks to some debts his brother had run up) or the pompous Byakuya Togami (she'd have him under her thumb yet- even the Togami conglomerate would fall beneath her penultimate rule someday despite all their talk of victory in any situation) or that mousy wretch, Touko Fukawa (whom she'd already made a mental note to dispose of or employ at one point or another), Ayano grew restless. How much longer was she going to be kept waiting?! She supposed it was time Jirou took on a few more patrols, since he really had nothing else to do. A dull thud alerted her to his presence as she smiled down at the dead body and crushed the bear-shaped head under her foot. "Good boy." She straightened her uniform a bit. "There's talk of another student hidden inside the school that Enoshima has recruited. Knight takes Pawn; you know what to do."

\--

Yukari Shimizu rubbed her temples as she stared down at the words on the page of her copy of Plato's "Phaedrus". The allegory of the rowdy black horse and its spirited, but obedient white companion was starting to become all too relevant in the case of Hope's Peak's current situation, and much like the winged charioteer that controlls them, the principal was suffering for every time he couldn't stop the sickness of despair from spreading. She was meant to meet with the newly-formed student council soon to make a speech, and she was growing anxious. She'd been pouring over her books for hours on end trying to think of something to say. As the Ultimate Philosopher, she was supposed to be the one who was creating hope by explaining how people think and helping them better understand themselves. But what use was philosophy in a time like this, she asked herself. The world had been turned upside down and no matter how many times she'd tried to make sense of it all, she'd just come up with a solution that was completely worthless in the long run. It felt like the world was coming down around her ears and there was no way she could pick up the pieces without hurting herself in the process, and yet it still felt that she was carrying this broken world on her shoulders at the time. It didn't help that her entire class was still trying to cope with the loss of the dearly departed Chisato Ueda as well. She was such a kind and generous soul, and if her beliefs were correct, then she was assured a happy afterlife where she would be free of her pain and worries and sensitive ears.   
  
Suddenly, she had an idea. What was it Chisato had once quoted? "We have much to hope for from the flowers" or something?   
  
"Of course!"  
  
"'Of course' what?"  
  
Yukari nearly jumped. She'd almost forgotten that she had company at the time. "Sorry, Suzume-kun," She sighed. "I thought you'd left already."  
  
Suzume Amano, Super High School Level Taiko Drummer and Yukari's girlfriend, walked over and put her arms around Yukari's shoulders. "Don't worry about it, Yuka-chan," She told the shorter woman. "You've got too much on that big mind for me to go around interruptin' ya."  
"I told you not to call me that," Yukari sighed.   
"Oh, who cares? It's your room and we're alone." Suzume kissed the back of her girlfriend's head. "C'mon, level with me. What's tickin' in that noggin of yours?"  
  
"Do you remember that line that Ueda-san always liked?"   
  
"The Sherlock Holmes one?" Suzume asked. Yukari nodded. "Yeah, somethin' about hope and flowers, I remember. What about it, though?"  
  
Yukari smiled, inspiration lighting up her eyes. "I was just thinking, what if humans are like the bees that pollinate them, and by that way of pollination, we are spreading hope to the rest of the world because it is our purpose to do so?"  
  
Suzume turned the concept over a few times in her head, then returned the smile. "Well, shit! Looks like you're right!" She hugged Yukari tightly. "Ah, I love that head of yours, Yuka-chan! See? I told you you'd think of something!" She let go and ruffled Yukari's hair. "Now get to work, braniac! That speech ain't gonna write itself!"  
  
Yukari nodded and got to work, and Suzume just smiled proudly as she watched. Yukari had been hit pretty hard by Chisato's death and hadn't taken it well. To see her finally back in her element was both refreshing and inspiring after seeing her out of it for so long. Yukari's new position on the student council had made her more stressed than usual and they had argued more often than perhaps they should have, but what couple doesn't fight from time to time? Even Kurenai and Morikawa had their fights and Ikeda and her boyfriend, Yuki Sakaki, Super High School Level Poet, had their artistic differences that would bring them to verbal blows. Heck, even Yamano and Sohma weren't perfect. At least they all had something in common; they had all stayed together during the turbulent years that came with high school and, more importantly, during the troubled times the world lived in now, and Suzume was still surprised that she and Yukari were still together. Yukari's parents hadn't been very accepting of their relationship while Suzume's uncle and aunt were more than happy that their niece had found someone and offered to talk it out with Yukari's parents, but even then their bond had grown stronger.   
  
However, as happy as it made her to remember that they had lasted this long, Suzume only had one thing that worried her about it all...  
  
What was going to happen to them now that the world was the way it was?

\--

Naoto took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I thought this would be under control by now..."  
  
"What would be?"   
  
Naoto turned to see Tsubasa walking into the bio lab, smiling. Oh, god, was he ever happy to see that smile. "Tsubasa-kun."  
  
Tsubasa nodded his greeting. "How's Nanase-kun?"  
  
Naoto sighed. "Not good, I'm afraid," He replied. "She's been crying again and I haven't been able to talk to her. Suzuhara-san said he'd try to get through to her, and you know what he's like."  
  
Tsubasa nodded again. Eiji Suzuhara, Super High School Level Basketball Player, was a man of his word. Heaven knows the kind of secrets that boy was keeping; it was no wonder he'd earned the nickname 'Super High School Level Reliable'. "I'm sure Eiji will have no problem bringing Hikari back to her cheery old self again," He told Naoto as he walked over to him. "But how are you? You've been avoiding me for a while."  
  
"A-avoiding?" Naoto held up his palms. "No, no. It's not like that. Between Nanase-kun and my research and what happened to Chisato, I've just needed some time on my own to sort out my head. Besides, you have your own problems, I'm sure. I didn't want to worry you."  
  
"Naoto-kun, you know you can talk to me about this stuff." Tsubasa took the younger boy's hands in his."I'm always listening."  
  
"Well, all I'm saying is, you'd think all these riots would have been controlled by now," Said Naoto. "There's talk that the school might be closed, but where would we go? Most of us don't even know if our families are still alive, others have no family at all."  
  
Tsubasa hummed thoughtfully. "That's a good point," The Actor sighed. "Shiori and I are still waiting on word from our family. I'm sure they'll be fine, but Shiori worries."   
  
"Ikeda-dono may act cold, but she really does have a heart of gold. Oh, I just rhymed!" Naoto started chuckling to himself and Tsubasa couldn't help but join in. Any time his Naoto laughed, the sun shone just that little bit brighter for him.   
"Perhaps you would have a place in the performing arts, Sohma-kun," Tsubasa said warmly. "Sasaki-san could give you lessons!"  
  
"Oh, I couldn't...!" Naoto laughed, holding up his palms. "The stage isn't for me. But in some ways, I conduct my own little performances here in the labs, and my speciments and subjects are my actors." He stepped aside and gestured to a microscope that was set up on the desk. "Here, come take a look." Tsubasa decided to humour him and came and had a look at what was under the lens. He looked into the eyepiece and saw some squiggly shapes that were moving about.   
  
"What's this?" He asked, watching the shapes dance about.  
  
"Those are microbes," Naoto replied. "I called them 'hope cells', after the school. I've been trying to make a psychoactive drug that's an alternative to antidepressants." He adjusted his glasses a bit. "I've been thinking that something must have been polluting the water outside and causing people to go crazy. If I can get this right, we can start treating the despair-infected individuals with this and a bit of rehabilitation. If I can strengthen it and the water treatment plants can come back on, I can release it into the waters of the world and slowly start bringing people back to their senses."  
  
Tsubasa looked over at Naoto, at his determined face and confident smile. "That's quite the ambition," He remarked. "Will Nanase-san be assisting you?"  
"She was, same as Chisato, up until her death," Sighed Naoto. "But I'm confident that she'll come around eventually. Hikari's like the engine that kept Chisato and I going. It's hard to stay focused knowing one of my dearest friends is gone, but she would have wanted us to keep going with our research. We made a promise to change the world someday, after all."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
Naoto stood straight as a soldier and put his fist over his heart, grinning. "'To make the world a better place for all, no matter how big or how small!' That's the motto of the Planet Earth club!"

\--

The heads of three of Ayano's agents were jammed into her locker when she opened it. Shocked as she was, Ayano made no effort to emote, and instead gave an irritated click of her tongue as she simply left the heads there and walked off, leaving the door open. They'd fall out soon enough and she took the lock so people would think that she just forgot to close her locker properly. It wasn't the first time. What a pain. Lord knows their tongues could have been useful to her before they wound up as a grissly mess in her locker, but at least they died with some purpose to their dull, meaningless lives. She'd find more little puppets to play with, new pieces to put on the board. It wasn't hard. An Ayanokoji is born with a silver tongue, after all- she could make people die for her if she wanted to, so roping in more reserve students wouldn't be hard. It wasn't the first time, however; she'd already had corpses showing up here and there and with Morikawa refusing to dress anymore bodies, she did feel a little annoyed that the Mortician, carted around by her dumb "samurai" boyfriend, wasn't even bothering with her talent. Perhaps, Ayano thought, she could be of use to her. It's not like she was doing anything better with herself these days.   
  
"Oy, Ayanokoji!"  
  
Ayano grinned. She knew that voice all too well. She took a gun from a holster hidden insode her jacket and turned to face Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, Super High School Level Yakuza, and his lapdog, Peko Pekoyama, Super High School Level Swordswoman. "Come to kill me, have you?" She asked nonchalantly. "Or are you here to waste my time?"  
  
"I've come to make a business proposal," Kuzuryu said slowly. "You're aware of the Ultimate Despair movement?"  
  
"If you mean that ridiculous little riot that happened because the reserve students couldn't accept their place as worthless little pawns, then yes."  
  
"I've come to recruit you." Kuzuryu gave a sick grin. "Our leader wants you to join us. You can make people do anything you tell them and your strategies are useful enough. If you say no, I'm going to have to kill you."  
  
Ayano raised her gun. "Not if I kill you first. You know I always kill the middle-man." She cocked her head and chuckled a bit. "It's laughable but quite expected that you'd wind up as someone's lackey. Though I'd much prefer it if the two of you wound up working for me instead of some hack who thinks they can end the world like this."  
  
"The world was already fucked," Kuzuryu spat. "Why not end it all?!"  
  
Ayano saw Pekoyama drawing her sword and began weighing up odds against possibilities in her mind. Unless Jirou decided to show up any time soon, this wasn't going to end well. "Look, I know the Kuzuryu family are famous for their temper, but even you wouldn't be dumb enough to buy into this 'Despair' nonsense," Ayano reasoned. "As the two most powerful yakuza families in the countries, we should be taking advantage of this civil collapse. This is far too extreme; neither of us would enforce these ridiculous methods on our own people, so why not bring a little order to the chaos? Helping to contain the riots could definitely give us an advantage for future endeavours- it's just good business."  
  
Fuyuhiko just laughed. "That's hilarious! An Ayanokoji and a Kuzuryu working together!"  
  
"I assure you, I'm not kidding."  
  
"Bullshit!"   
  
As if on some silent command, Peko had her sword and had charged at Ayano. The younger of the two fired her shots at Peko's feet to try and slow her or trip her up, but it was easily dodged. Ayano managed to dodge Peko's sword that first time, and fired more bullets at her, but no matter where she aimed, nothing hit home. A second dodge, but this time, she aimed past Peko and fired at Fuyuhiko, and the bullet hit him in the shoulder. Not enough to make him bleed out and die, but just somewhere that would cause a lot of pain if he tried to move. Her ploy worked, and Peko immediately ran back to check that Fuyuhiko was okay.   
  
"Bo-chan!"  
  
"What the fuck are you doing?!" He spat at her. "Kill Ayanokoji!"  
  
Peko never had a chance to get her sword back, since Ayano had kicked it out of her reach and resorted to hand-to-hand combat to distract her, and for a minute, it looked like Ayano had the upper hand, since Peko was not as skilled as she, and for a rather short woman, Ayano could pack a real punch if she had to smack someone up for whatever reason. She managed to get Peko on her knees with one of her hands around the older girl's throat and the barrel of her gun to her head. She saw the little red light dancing on Peko's forehead, and began to laugh. "You thought this was 'checkmate'?! I am Ayano Ayanokoji-  _I NEVER LOSE!_ " Her grip tightened, and Peko was starting to choke. Fuyuhiko tried to beg for her life, but Ayano backhanded him in the face with the butt of her gun. Jirou would fire, Peko would be dead, and she would end Fuyuhiko's life and rid the world of the Kuzuryu family, and a member of Ultimate Despair, but she never expected what happened next.   
  
 _BANG!_


	3. Keeping the Peace

_BANG!_  
  
Jirou thought his bullet had hit its intended target, but instead, he watched from his vantage point behind some lockers as Ayano fell to her knees, clutching at a wound in her chest as blood coated her fingers. Ayano eventually fell into a heap at Peko's feet, blood pooling around her as the swordswoman stood.   
  
"Checkmate," She said coldly.   
  
Jirou blew his cover when he walked out to see Ayano's body for himself. Indeed, the Chessboard Queen herself had been killed by his own hand, and neither of them had expected this. It was her own fault, anyway, Jirou knew she was getting ahead of herself. But this isn't how he wanted to end Ayanokoji's life! He'd had it so perfectly planned out, and as a perfectionist (what culinary genius isn't?) this was an insult to everything he'd spent so many years meticulously planning out.   
  
As if to add insult to injury, Fuyuhiko walked over, laughing, and rolled Ayano's corpse onto its back with his foot. "It's about fucking time someone took you out." He stomped on her face and ground in his heel. "Checkmate, bitch!" Jirou just stood there, fuming silently until Fuyuhiko took notice. "Thanks for ridding me of this brat. Abe, isn't it?" Jirou was silent. "Not a talker. Whatever. You might just be useful to me."  
  
"It wasn't supposed to end this way," Jirou growled. "I spent years waiting for a chance to kill Ayanokoji in a way of my choosing."  
  
"Hey, she's dead whether you wanted to kill her now or not." Fuyuhiko boredly stuck his pinky in his ear to clean it a bit. "You got the job done, even if you weren't aiming for the broad."   
  
"He's got a point, you know," Said a new voice as a figure came walking into view, grinning like a cheshire cat. "But doesn't it just fill you with utter despair to know that you didn't get to achieve your life's goal? The one thing you wanted to do in a certain way, and now it's ended up a mess."  
  
Jirou glared daggers at the newcomer. Blonde pigtails and blue eyes and a voluptuous bust made her a sight to behold, but Jirou wasn't fooled. "You're one to talk, considering you were the one Ayano was after," He growled. "Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you all here and now."  
  
"Aww, now that's not very nice!" The newcomer chided playfully. "Especially not when I was just about to recruit you!"  
  
Jirou cocked an eyebrow. "'Recruit'?"  
  
"Yes, to join us in sinking this pathetic world into despair!" The newcomer cackled. "Come on, let's face it. The world is full of shit, what's the point of it going on like this?!"  
  
Jirou just scowled. "You're out of your mind, Enoshima." He quickly snatched up Ayanokoji's gun and pointed it at the Super High School Level Fashionista. "And now, I'll put you and these yakuza scumbags out of your--" Jirou never got a chance to finish his sentence when Peko's sword sliced his head clean off his shoulders, and his body collapsed at Junko's feet.   
  
"What a shame," Junko sighed boredly. "He could have been useful."   
\--  
Yukari gave her speech during the funeral service of two more of her classmates, and she tried to be strong as she spoke to the congregation. She tried to use her analogy of flowers as symbols of hope as an allegory for the other students, but try as she might, it didn't have the effect she had hoped it would. After the service, Hikari came up to her with Naoto not far behind and pulled her aside for a minute to talk.   
  
"You used that quote Chisato liked," Hikari said dumbly. "Why?"  
  
"I thought it would have helped to explain things better, that it would be good to start off with." Yukari sighed. "I'm sorry, Nanase-san. I know Ueda-san's death must have been awful for you and Sohma-san, I didn't mean any disrespect by using that quote Chisato loved so much."  
  
"N-no, no, it's okay..." Hikari rubbed her eyes, sniffling a bit and trying to smile. "Chisato-chan would have been okay with it if you were just trying to help. In fact, she would have been more than okay. She'd have been honoured."  
  
Yukari set a hand on Hikari's shoulder. "I'm glad you think so, Nanase-san. Ueda-san would be proud of you for being so strong so far."  
  
Hikari shook her head. "'M not strong."  
  
"Of course you are." Yukari smiled down at her friend. "You're the girl who kicked climate action into full gear, the girl who told the Togami comglomerate to get lost. You're a lionheart, Hikari Nanase. I don't think there's anything you can't do." Hikari left with a small smile on her face, and Yukari felt a little better about the situation; at least her words helped someone, even if it was just one person. But as she walked through the halls, more students came up to her and told her what her words had meant to them and even though the reactions were mixed (and some a bit strange), Yukari found her smile growing wider as happiness swelled inside her chest and Suzume felt so proud of her. Maybe things would start looking up from now on.  
\--  
At dinner, Yukari had gathered her whole circle of friends, including Suzume, her cousins, Rin and Rei Harima, Super High School Level Skateboarder and Surfer (it was hard to tell between the two because they were almost like the other's mirror and knew everything the other did), and their friend, Eiji Suzuhara, so they could all eat together.   
  
"Excellent job out there today, Cuz," Said Rin through a mouthful of steak. "Everyone's been lookin' happier these days; even the Super High School Level Stick-Up-His-Ass was in a good mood after that speech!"  
  
"Or the dude finally got laid," Joked Rei before he slurped up a big mouthful of udon noodles while Rin had to quickly swallow her mouthful before all her laughter could make her choke.   
  
Eiji sighed and shook his head at his friends' antics before looking over at Yukari. "Like Rin was saying, you really lifted everyone's spirits, Yukari-kun. Maybe just enough to bring some newfound hope."  
  
"I was just doing my job," Yukari replied bashfully. "It was nothing, really."  
  
"Excuse me, you was practically glowin' after we got outta that huge crowd!" Suzume put an arm around Yukari's shoulders. "You're amazing, Yukari. Ain't nothin' more to say."  
  
Yukari blushed, but her smile remained. "Thank you, everyone."  
  
At another table, Hikari Nanase was pushing her leftovers about on her plate. Her mood had improved a bit, but her appetite still hadn't come back yet, which she was a little annoyed about. She hated feeling like she'd wasted her food, and she couldn't feed them to Naoto because he was either still in the lab or in Tsubasa's bedroom, either of which could be possible since Naoto had insisted that Hikari had to go and eat something.   
  
"Room for one more?"  
  
Hikari looked up from her plate to see Teruteru Hanamura, Super High School Level Chef, standing next to her. She smiled and gestured to the chair nearby. "Sure thing, Porky."  
  
"Still calling me that, huh?" Teruteru chuckled as he sat down. "Don't worry about it, it makes me feel like it's just like the old days."  
  
"Yeah...before this whole mess happened." Hikari swallowed a mouthful of her drink and pushed back the hood of her jacket, revealing her short, messy hair and untameable cowlick. "Do you think it'll ever be over?"  
  
"I like to pretend it doesn't exist," Her friend told her casually. "I know you're going to say I'm an idiot for ignoring it, but it helps me concentrate better on the things that matter to me right now."  
  
Hikari just nodded. This was usually her old friend's reaction to most troubling situations, including the bullying he'd get in elementary school for his weight, though a well-placed roar and a few broken noses soon got the message across that neither of them were having it- at least, that was the message the Conservationist had been trying to deliver. "You getting any letters from home?"  
  
"I got one from my Mom. She says the trouble hasn't reached her yet and that she's okay, but I'm worried that she could still be in danger."  
  
Hikari could understand where he was coming from. Teruteru had left home with the promise that he was going to become a great chef so he could help his mother with their restaurant, but with everything happening outside, it looked like that probably wasn't going to happen. "At least you're getting letters, man." Hikari finally set down her fork. "I haven't heard back from Dad yet. He was in Thailand, last I heard."  
  
"Taking care of elephants?" Asked Teruteru. "Your Dad just doesn't know when to say 'no' when it comes to animals."   
  
Hikari smiled a bit. "Yeah. That guy, Yoshihara, in Class 79? He could definitely learn a thing or two from my old man." Teru gave her a knowing smirk and a raised eyebrow in reply, but Hikari stuck a finger in his face as a warning. "Don't start. We've been over this- yes, I like him, no I am not confessing and I don't need you to do it for me."  
The chef shrugged his surrender. "Are you going to go find him?" He asked again. "A lot of students are saying they want to go and find their families."  
  
"Dad would come and find me, Porky," Hikari told him, her smile fading from her face in a heartbeat. "He always comes back for me."  
  
Hikari was very proud of her father. A veterinarian, he was called to many animal sanctuaries around the world from Australia to Zimbabwe to treat the animals there. He was also an activist for preservation of endangered wildlife and had inspired Hikari to do the same from a young age. Nobuo Nanase was indeed a great man- Hikari could only pray that he would follow through on his eternal promise and they would see each other again.   
\--  
"So, do you think any more will die?"   
  
"I hope not."  
  
Shiori sighed as she took another sip of her tea. "It's getting out of hand, Yuki. We haven't heard from anyone outside in forever."  
  
Yuki reached over and patted his girlfriend's hand. "You worry too much."  
  
"With good reason!"  
  
"But still too much." Yuki adjusted his glasses. "Come on, let it go for a little while."  
  
The Super High School Level Soprano just sipped her tea. "You make it sound so easy, Yuki-kun."  
  
"I never said it was, princess," The poet sighed. "I'm just as scared as you are. But Shimizu-san's speech might just inspire a little change around here, so I'm hoping it's enough to get others to start thinking about making sure no one else dies. Ueda-san had friends outside of our class, so maybe they will start looking out for the others thanks to Shimizu-san's speech today."  
  
"And what about Ayanokoji-san? And Abe-san?" Shiori asked.   
  
Yuki just shrugged. "Ayanokoji-dono won't be missed. Jirou-san, though, will be. He had many admirers in life."  
  
Shiori smiled a bit at that. "Maybe we could say he was lucky he was killed before Genocider Syo got to him."  
  
"If only the Genocider had killed Komaeda first," Yuki added sharply.   
  
Shiori scowled. "If only! That pathetic waste of space deserves to hang like a fish on a hook for what he did to Chisato-chan. I mean, you've seen how miserable Nanase-san and Sohma-san are without her! They were a team for such a long time and now look. It's all Komaeda's fault!"  
  
"Like Yoko Ono and the Beatles."  
  
"Oh, hush. Yoko Ono is a genius and those rumours are pointless gossip." Shiori crossed her arms. "Also, to compare her to that psychopath is just disgraceful."  
  
Yuki chuckled. That was his Shiori; ice-cold Queen one minute, warm-hearted woman the next. It was what he loved the most about her, how her personality never seemed to have any set attributes, her mood changing depending on who she was around and how she would allow herself to be weak around him, making herself seem human despite her cold exterior. She was his muse, and Yuki never ran out of ideas if he was writing poetry when she was around (not like he wasn't capable of writing anything without Shiori around, but every artist needs a muse).   
  
Still, he couldn't help but share in her worry. Even if Yukari had boosted morale a bit, there was no reassuance that it would last.  
\--  
Yukari walked back to her dorm that night with Suzume at her side. Rin and Rei had to double back to the woodwork lab to check on something they were working and Eiji had gone to talk to Hikari, so Suzume wound up having to get Yukari back to her dorm room while getting through the throng of students that filled the dormitory hall at this time of the night. The hall monitors were all out trying to get people organised to no avail and some had already moved out of the way in order to not get crushed and taken some younger and smaller students with them so they wouldn't get caught up in the crowd and wind up getting lost or hurt.   
  
"I sure as hell ain't gonna miss the nighttime rush," Suzume remarked. "If we graduate, I'm headin' back out to the country."  
  
"You never were a city-slicker, Suzume-kun," Chuckled Yukari.   
  
Suzume shrugged. "I don't mind the city, as long as I don't have to be in it long."  
  
"And yet you play taiko drums while your crazy uncle sets off fireworks."  
  
"Hey, that's the kind of racket I grew up with! Ya can't expect a gal like me to just get used to this big place so quick."  
  
Yukari hummed in agreement and said no more after that.   
  
They came to a halt not far from Yukari's room, where a small crowd of students were gathering and murmuring amongst themselves, some looking worriedly at Yukari as Suzume helped her towards the door. Yukari was met with shock when she was finally on the other side of the crowd- on her door was the word  **DESPAIR** , written messily, probably with someone's fingers rather than a paintbrush, and a knife was driven straight through her nameplate. Yukari stood there for a minute, trying to process what she had just saw before turning the handle and throwing the door open to find her room ransacked and an utter mess with  **DESPAIR** ,  **DIE**  and  **SUFFER**  smeared across her walls- the sight left her shaking until she fell backwards into Suzume's arms and was led away by the Drummer.   
  
Yukari spent the night in Suzume's room, and did not dare go near her room ever again after that night.


	4. A Party to Die For

The death threats may have kept coming, but Yukari tried to stay focused. She had bigger fish to fry than a group of murderous psychopaths with nothing better to do than incite violence for the sake of violence, death for the sake of death. Her meeting with the school council on this day was meant to be on the topic of improving student morale, and she had a few good ideas in mind for such a purpose that she hoped the hastily thrown-together student council would think were good enough to help everyone through these difficult times. The attitudes of the student populace had to be changed, or else this sickness of despair would spread and consume everything and everyone.  
  
"The student council is aware of the circumstances of this meeting?" She asked her audience. The representatives of the remaining classes nodded their heads. "Then let's begin. As we are all well-aware, student morale has decreased significantly since the death of three of the members of Class 80; Chisato Ueda, Ayano Ayanokoji and Jirou Abe. Though my classmates will be dearly missed, we cannot allow this tragedy to get the better of us at any cost. Ladies and gentlemen, I propose that we use new methods to improve student morale."  
  
"I second that proposal," One of the members piped up.  
  
"I also second this proposal, Shimizu-san," Announced another, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who had raised his hand. "Please, tell us of your plans!"  
  
"Thank you, Ishimaru-senpai." Yukari cleared her throat. "First of all, I would like to propose that the student counselling services' door is encouraged to remain open in these troubled times..." Yukari continued to put forward and discuss her ideas to the council, being wary of Ishimaru. As much as he was a young man driven by a strong sense of morality, his unwavering focus of success in the academic sense was troublesome, so it came as no surprise that, when Yukari suggested that a party be held sometime soon with performances from the popular musicians and artists attending the school, Ishimaru did not agree.  
  
"I object to that notion!" He had his hand raised high. "The most important examinations and assignments are due soon. This party will distract our classmates from achieving their utmost best in these coming days!"  
  
Yukari fought back the urge to groan. "The entire country faces a crisis, students are dying left and right and you're more worried about your classmates' grades than their mental health?!" She slammed her hands against the table. "Get your damn priorities straight! As if it isn't stressful enough that the assignments are stacked sky-high, this Ultimate Despair movement is wreaking havoc on our country's streets and in our school, and you're worried about grades?!"  
  
"A party would distract the students from doing their best!" Ishimaru argued.  
  
"Unity is what is needed the most in these dire times! We must stand united, not in grief, but in hope if we are to stamp out this disease called despair! What better way to inspire it than in a celebratory setting?" When Ishimaru gave no argument, Yukari continued. "Good health, mental and physical, goes hand in hand with good Academic performance. You can't just have one without the other. While I admire your drive and determination, Ishimaru-senpai, other students don't have that sort of motivation. It's for their own good. I know we've had our differences, but we need to work together for the good of our classmates. Can't you understand that?"  
  
Ishimaru gave no further argument, so the discussions continued with a strong vote for the party being thrown. Afterwards, as Yukari was going to her class, Ishimaru stopped her. "I must apologise for my ill-informed outburst earlier, Shimizu-san," He told her, as formal as ever. "I should have listened."  
  
"It's no problem." Yukari smiled at him. "You are the Super High School Level Hall Monitor, aren't you? It's only natural that the success of the students is your number one concern. I didn't mean to be so harsh..."  
  
But Ishimaru just laughed. "Of course! There are times when one must be forceful, or else nothing gets done! Whichever lucky man who takes you as a wife will be eternally grateful."  
  
Yukari's eye twitched, but she forced herself to smile. "That's...very kind of you. Thank you." Here was another reason why Philosopher and Hall Monitor clashed so much. There was very little tolerance for any student who was queer or identified as a gender other than the one they were born with at Hope's Peak and other schools in Japan and in Japanese society. Tradition, Yukari thought, was harmful to the youth of today. As much as she believed in upholding tradition, she couldn't condone how it was so full of sexism and prejudice. The ideas of the world needed to change, and if Yukari was the only one who could change them, then so be it. Because if not her, then who would?

\--

All was quiet in the workshop, save for the sound of metal being welded. A young boy, dressed in an old shirt and overalls with an apron tied on and a welding mask over his face, was leaning over a workbench with welder in hand, so focused on his work that he didn't even hear the workshop door opening and closing.  
  
"Oi, Nagawa-kun," Called a voice. "You in here, man?"  
  
Izumi Nagawa, Super High School Level Roboticist, shut off the welder and flipped up his welding mask as his visitor walked over to him. He smiled. "Kazuichi-nii-san," He greeted cheerfully.  
  
Kazuichi Souda, Super High School Level Mechanic grinned and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "How's your latest masterpiece comin' along?"  
  
Izumi nodded. "It's going great," He replied. "Though I don't exactly like calling it a masterpiece."  
  
"Ah, you're underestimating yourself!" Laughed Souda. "Look at that welding job- it's excellent! Absolutely flawless! Whatever you're cookin' up's gonna knock 'em flat!"  
  
Izumi had to return the grin. Though normally a quiet and reserved kid and often cynical towards others, he and Souda had bonded over time over their almost similar talents and helped each other to learn new skills to the point where Izumi had thought of Souda as a big brother. After that, the two were almost inseparable, and Souda didn't mind being called 'Big Brother', either- quite the opposite, in fact.  
  
"So," Izumi began, setting the welder aside. "What's up?"  
  
Souda pulled a flyer out of his pocket and showed it to his young friend. "There's this huge party comin' up," He explained, still grinning ear to ear. "There's gonna be a freakin' smorgasboard full a' food, music, dancin', I'm so pumped!"  
  
"You're just going for the food, right?" Izumi asked again. "We still have our project to work on..."  
  
"Ah, come on, Nagawa-kun!" Souda put an arm around the kid's shoulders. "We've been working our asses off! We deserve a break! Oh, wait, I gotta get a date...!" He let go of Izumi and started to walk off.  
  
"W-where are you going?" Izumi called as he followed.  
  
"I'm gonna ask Sonia if she wants to go with me," Souda called back. "Wish me luck, man!" And then he left, and Izumi scowled darkly.  
  
Princess Sonia Nevermind of the royal house of Novoselic...Izumi hated her. She reminded him too much of his cruel older sisters, all of them rotten to the core and they acted kind and sweet to get their way, and had even tricked Izumi into stealing. It was after the first time he'd been arrested that Izumi had started hating his sisters, who wouldn't stand up for him, and he especially hated his mother, who almost didn't know he existed and hadn't cared since she divorced his biological father, whose letters had stopped coming after she married some lecherous moron with money and had his little sister, whose existence Izumi soon cursed and despised when she turned out to be as rotten as her stepsisters. Souda was the first person since Izumi's father to realise that and actually care that he was alive, but this Princess he loved so much had suddenly become the target of his affections, and now Souda seemed to care more about her than he did about his best friend. He hated it! In his rage, Izumi kicked a nearby wall, then went back to his work and drew the curtain so no one could see him cry. What did Souda even see in her, anyway? She wasn't even interested in him! She'd already stolen some other poor sap's boyfriend, a guy called Gundam Tanaka, Super High School Level Animal Breeder, who Izumi thought was an idiot with his whole 'Dark Emissary of Darkness' schtick he tried to pull off. It had to be a joke. Hopefully, Izumi had always thought it wouldn't last, but it felt like she had stolen his brother, too.  
  
And the worst part was, Izumi knew he couldn't say anything to stop it or even talk it out with Souda so he could know how his friend felt. It was just too hard to be honest.  
  
It's hard being a kid. It's hard, and no one understands.

\--

Hikari had never had reason to not trust Gundam Tanaka. They were on mutual ground despite his theatrics, and once Chisato had told him to stop calling them "wretched spawn", she'd actually started respecting him. But now, watching him sneak about like this in the lab was every reason to think he was up to something shady. She watched carefully as the Breeder slipped something in his pocket, then stepped inside the lab with her arms crossed.

"Hey, Tanaka," She called over to him. "I don't think you're authorised to be here during class hours."

Tanaka turned to face Hikari, his four hamsters sticking their little furry heads out to see what was happening. "What business do you have with me, mortal?"

"Don't try to bullshit me with your 'Dark Emissary' crap!" Hikari snapped back at him. "What'd you just take from the specimen cabinet?!"

"Medicine," Replied Tanaka. "Now get out of my way."

"The specimen cabinet doesn't  _have_  medicine in it, so why don't you pull the other one?" Hikari held out her hand. "Hand it over and maybe I won't have to hurt you. The last thing I want is for this to get messy."

"You dare challenge the Prince of Darkness, puny mortal?!" Tanaka just started to laugh. "I would like to see you try!"

Hikari knew this was going nowhere and steeled herself for a fight, when a new voice met the ears of the combatants. "Gummy! There you are!" The two turned to see Kumiko Akamine, Super High School Level Mangaka, standing in the doorway. The pink-haired girl quickly bounced over to Gundam and hugged him tight around his middle. "What are you doing in such a gloomy place? You're late to class!"

Tanaka began to blush furiously, but the scene did not sway Hikari one bit. Gundam was hiding something, but it wasn't worth bringing it up now with Kumiko around; the girl was fiercely loyal and would only make things worse. The two left, both Tanaka and Hikari exchanging glares as he was dragged from the room. Crossing over to the specimen cabinet, Hikari quickly took inventory of anything Gundam could have taken. Sure there were plant samples here that Chisato had collected and documented that could be used for veterinary medicine, but there were others that were samples of venom from various different species of plant, reptile, mammal and insect that could be potentially fatal. Much to Hikari's surprise and confusion, nothing was missing- not a phial out of place or damaged. But if she had seen Gundam taking something from the cabinet and slipping it in his pocket, why was nothing missing or damaged in any way? It didn't sit right with her at all, and Hikari could feel a heavy weight settling in her gut- sure she knew Tanaka wasn't exactly all he was cracked up to be, but he wouldn’t actually kill someone intentionally, would he? And if so, then who?

\--

Mondo Oowada, Super High School Biker Gang Leader, barely ever got attached to many people in his life, especially to other students outside of his class or his gang, but here he was, standing beneath the same tree where one of the underclassmen had been murdered. He barely knew Chisato, having brushed paths only a handful of times, but that handful of times they'd exchanged brief 'hello's and 'excuse me's or, on one occasion, asked the other how their day was going was never wasted on him. Of course, he had no idea how to talk properly to girls, but the handful of times they had talked, it had made him feel better. He had actually tried asking her to sit with him for dinner once, but then it turned out that she'd been taken by that fucking psycho, Komaeda, and he just bitterly told the botanist to forget about it. What did she ever see in him? He roped her in with all that bullshit about needing her to stay with him and look where it got her. He rested a hand on the bark of the tree Chisato used to sit under with a sad sigh. It wasn't her fault that things went south so badly, that he knew well enough, but somehow Mondo felt like some of the guilt was resting on his shoulders. _If only I'd made my move,_  He thought,  _maybe you'd still be here._  
  
The wind blew and gently rustled the leaves and grass around him, and Mondo just turned his back and left.  
  
If he had made his move, maybe things would have been different and Chisato would have still been alive, would have still been under this tree. But what did it matter anyway; she didn't even know his name.

\--

The party came about a week later and went off without a hitch. The students from all the remaining classes were mingling and dancing together, and Yukari even spotted Ishimaru dancing with his girlfriend, Shizuka Matsuki, Super High School Level Painter, and it looked like they were having fun. There were performances from so many of the students who remained from the entertainment area of talent, like Sayaka Maizono, Kazumi Katsuya, and Ibuki Mioda. At one point, even Suzume got up and drummed everyone up into a frenzy on the taiko drums. Yukari sat, proud of her classmates and colleagues, and that happiness that they felt from the energy boiling up with every strike of the drum was her happiness, and Suzume's pride in her abilities was Yukari's pride, too.  _Chisato would have loved this,_  Yukari thought to herself,  _even if she was never one for parties._  Hikari had her energy back, too, throwing up the horns during Katsuya and Mioda's performances, and it was refreshing to the surviving members of Class 80 and her friends in the other surviving classes to see her being her old self again. As soon as Suzume's performance was finished, the crowd exploded into applause and cheering before the drummer announced that dinner was served.  
  
Everyone returned to their seats while a piano and a microphone was placed out on stage, and everyone clapped as Shiori Ikeda, joined by Mika Morikawa on the piano, took their places while dinner was being served. While Mika's dainty fingers danced along the keys, Shiori's voice bewitched the entire gathering and barely anyone looked away from the stage while they ate, testing the hand coordination of the audience- there were a few spills of vegetables or juice or soda down someone's front every once in a while, but the atmosphere was set and people were enjoying themselves.  
Leaning towards Ishimaru, Yukari told him, "See? I told you a party was the perfect way to get everyone's spirits back up." Ishimaru smiled and nodded, and Yukari could tell he was holding Shizuka's hand under the table by the blush that was on both their faces. She went back to her dinner as the music played, at one point asking Hanamura to refill her glass when it was empty.

Standing at either ends of the stage were Tsuneo and Yuki, both watching their lady loves with pride. Tsuneo had always loved to watch Mika play the piano; the serene look on her face made him love her even more, the same in the case of Yuki and Shiori. Yuki loved Shiori, no doubt about that, and her voice kept him anchored to her side, as well as her secret, golden, loving heart that she couldn't show. But both poet and samurai could hear a quiet, but constant ticking. Tsuneo, having already been certain it wasn't his weight on the floorboards of the gym, felt a weight sink in his chest. He immediately raced up onto the stage and wrapped Mika in his arms with his back to the piano just as it exploded, and Shiori only heard the explosion before someone knocked her out of the way of the blast just as the entire stage was showered in shrapnel.


	5. A Party to Die For, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two more students dead, Hikari's pissed and Komaeda's back to ruin everything again.

The room was thrown into a panic. Students scattered left and right to avoid being hit by debris or to get away from the stage that had been set ablaze as the air was filled with the sound of frightened screams that drowned out the voices of the hall monitors that tried to get everyone to evacuate in a calm fashion. People were treading over each other trying to get out of the room or trying to help put out the fire. Suzume, who was backstage with Kazumi Katsuya, were already arguing with a couple of hall monitors backstage.   
  
"Like fuck I'm gonna leave Matsuki out there!" Kazumi snapped at the hall monitor. "Let us get out there an' help, ya piece of shit!"  
  
"Yukari's out there, too!" Added Suzume. "She's been getting death threats! I have to protect her, now get the fuck out of our way!"  
  
"I-I-I'm sorry," The hall monitor stammered, obviously intimidated by the two women, both of them taller and stronger than him. "But this is an emergency, we can't afford to have any more casualties!"  
  
While the two argued with him, some students were crawling under tables to escape the crowd crush. Ishimaru had already grabbed Matsuki and the two had hidden under their table. Matsuki had already burst into tears and was hiding her face in Ishimaru's shoulder while the painter had tried to block out the screams, but she suddenly looked up and looked around quickly.   
  
"Wait!" She cried. "Where's Shimizu-san?!" Suddenly, there was a dreadful thud as Yukari landed on her side, coughing and hacking and barely able to lift herself. Leaving Matsuki for a moment, Ishimaru dragged the philosopher under the table with them, but it only gave them both a more horrifying fright as Yukari's body began spasming violently, as if she were being strangled and trying to escape. Her lips were swollen, the whites of her eyes turning red as blood vessels were popping under pressure and tears spilled and ran down her cheeks. Her skin was turning an unsettlingly pale shade of blue and her eyes rolled back into her head as she began to foam at the mouth, the bubbling saliva a pale pink from where she had been coughing up blood. Her body twitched and spasmed for a few more seconds before Yukari Shimizu finally went still, her face contorted in a terrifying expression of fear and pain. Her head rolled towards a terrified Matsuki, who was too scared to scream and fainted. Ishimaru pulled the painter into his arms and held her close, squeezing his eyes shut.  
  
Meanwhile, on the stage, Tsuneo had emerged from the flames burnt, bleeding and carrying Mika with one arm while the other lay limp and useless at his side. His formal hakama was torn, bloodstained and charred, but they were both alive. Right now, Mika was his priority, and he made his way through the crowd regardless of his injuries and the people trying to stop him. Back on the stage, Shiori was pulling herself to her knees, her ears were ringing from the explosion and her head spinning wildly. It wasn't until her vision cleared that she noticed the bloodstained body of the person next to her who had stuff that was sticking into their chest- it was Yuki, and the sharp end of a broken piano leg had impaled him through the chest, and more bits of broken wood and metal were stuck in his shoulders, legs and arms. She screamed his name and leaned over him, begging him to wake up and to open his eyes. Eventually, the snow-haired poet woke up and looked up at Shiori with a pained expression on his face.   
  
"Sh...Shiori..." He managed to say her name as he lifted his hand and gently cupped her cheek. "Are...are you hurt...?"  
  
"You idiot...that blast was meant for me!" Shori didn't even bother to stop the tears that were already falling. Her beloved's blood was starting to stain her white dress as the soprano gripped the dying poet's hand.   
  
Yuki chuckled as best he could, even though he was coughing up blood while doing so. "If you're still so quick to be that usual you...calling me an idiot...I've been a lucky man..." He tried to get some of his breath back before attempting to speak again. "I love you...Shiori...Ikeda...so I will die...without...re...g...ret..." His chest rose and fell one final time before Yuki's brilliant blue eyes closed forever and his hand fell limply into the puddle of blood he lay in. Shiori was frozen- she didn't know if she was alive or not as she just stared down at her beloved's corpse like a woman possessed. She took hold of his shoulders in her trembling hands and shook him firmly.   
  
"Yuki...?"  
  
This couldn't be happening.   
  
"Hey, Yuki...?"  
  
He promised...he promised he'd never leave!  
  
"Hey...it's not a performance, you can wake up now...!"  
  
This wasn't happening.   
  
"Yuki?   
  
He promised.   
  
"Wake up..."  
  
 _She refused to believe it._  
  
"Wake up...wake up...wake up... _wake up...WAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUP **WAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUP!!!**_  
  
She continued to scream at Yuki and shake his lifeless body until Tsubasa came up and wrestled the screaming girl away from him, and even then she was in the throes of despair and grief, screaming murder and thrashing about like a woman possessed until she screamed herself into unconsciousness.   
  
\--  
  
Mika Morikawa woke the next day in her bed, most of herself wrapped in bandages. She was completely alone in her room, which was odd considering that Tsuneo was often there to wake her in the morning since she slept like a corpse. Her head was throbbing with pain and her back was stiff and sore, as if she'd slept on a bed of lumpy rocks, but she pulled herself up into a semi-sitting position just as someone knocked on her door.   
  
"C-come in!" She called, wincing in pain. "I think the door's unlocked." The door opened and Mika looked to see Suzume standing on the other side. The girl looked like she hadn't slept and it was physically draining for her to be standing up at the moment. Mika smiled politely at her. "Ah, Amano-san. Come in." She sat up a little more with some difficulty and grunted in pain when she felt something give an awful twinge. Suzume shut the door behind her as she crossed over to Mika's bed and started helping her sit up better. "What happened last night?" Mika asked her classmate. "I remember an explosion, and..." Suzume fell to her knees at Mika's bedside, her shoulders trembling as she gripped at the bedclothes with white-knuckled fists. "Amano-san...?" Mika placed a hand on Suzume's shoulder and the older girl just burst into tears.  
  
"She's d-dead...!" She sobbed. "They murdered her! Those bastards killed Yukari!!"  
  
Mika sighed, then coaxed Suzume to come and sit beside her so she could comfort the grieving drummer. Another corpse to be dressed- by now, the Mortician was starting to think this was pointless to repeat time and time again. As she had been dressing Ayano's corpse, she had learned that so many other students had been murdered not long after, and one had gone missing from the class above them. It was getting to the point where she had only agreed to dress the corpses of her own classmates- it was time and money she couldn't afford to waste and supplies were limited now that the school had been blocked off from the rest of the world. "How did Shimizu-san die?" Mika asked carefully.   
  
"Poison," Croaked Suzume. "Sohma reckons it's poison, Nanase thinks she knows who did it..." She sniffled and gave a long sigh, covering her eyes with her hand. "Sasaki...he's gone, too...the explosion killed him..."  
  
Mika suddenly remembered the night before and gasped. "Tsuneo!"  
  
"He needed an amputation." Suzume's breath hitched as she gave another sob. "He saved you...but I c-couldn't..." Mika let her cry, and soon, she joined her in mourning. Suzume's guilt would not let her go, this Mika knew well. She and Yukari were so in love with each other and were almost never apart for long, so for Suzume to lose her first and only love was not only devastating; the heartbreak could kill her. Mika had watched the grieving die of broken hearts too many times, and though fascinated by the damage it could do, seeing it was a form of withdrawl, the results were varied and often tragic. Hopefully, the Mortician told herself, Suzume would be strong enough to pull through.  
  
\--  
  
Hikari felt her blood boil as she and Naoto studied the results from the tests they'd run on a sample of Yukari's blood. Poison, from one of the plants Chisato collected a sample from and documented when they'd been in the Amazon, mixed with snake venom, had killed the Philosopher, and the thought alone that Chisato's discovery was used as a murder weapon, made Hikari far more angry than she could ever remember being before.   
  
"Who," She growled.   
  
Naoto pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a finger. "There are three likely suspects." He held up a hand to count them. "Masaru Nishioka, Teruteru Hanamura, and Gundam Tanaka. However, I hardly believe Nishioka would be capable of murder." He gave a short huff of cynical laughter. "I would say Hoshino, but there's no way he would do it, either- no motive."  
  
"What, you think that spoilsport could have killed Chisato, too?" Hikari's eyes turned to her friend.   
  
"Wouldn't put it past him," Said Naoto. "But he didn't kill her  _or_  Yukari. You said Tanaka was in here yesterday, right? That makes him a person of interest."   
  
"I know where he'll be." Hikari stood up, taking a small bottle from the table that contained the petals of the plant Chisato had discovered and shoving it in her pocket. "And I don't care if I have to fight Akamine to get to him." She stalked out of the room, leaving Naoto worried. He took off his glasses and rubbed his face.   
  
"Chisato-kun," He sighed. "If only you were still here."  
  
Hikari's footsteps echoed through the halls as she strode past teachers and hall monitors and even shoved past Sakura Oogami, Super High School Level Martial Artist, and Aoi Asahina, Super High School Level Swimmer, not even caring that the fact that she probably stepped on Asahina's foot could possibly spell her doom. Tanaka was going to be a dead man when Hikari got her hands on him, and there was very little that would stop her right now.   
  
As she turned a corner into a less-crowded hallway, Hikari gained an unwanted 'tail', so to speak, and this tail came in the form of Nagito Komaeda, Chisato's late boyfriend.   
  
"What's the rush, Nanase-san?" He asked naïvely. "Are you late for something?" Hikari said nothing and tried to walk faster, but seeing as Komaeda had longer legs than she did, it was easy for him to catch up. "Are you looking for someone? Maybe I can help?" Still no reply; Hikari wasn't even paying attention to him. "Oh, I get it. You're still upset about Chisato-chan." The silver-haired boy smiled sadly. "I loved her so much. It still hurts to think that she isn't here anymore."  
  
Hikari stopped dead in her tracks, turned sharply on her heel and glared darkly up at Komaeda. "Don't you dare." She stuck a finger in his face. "Don't you fucking  _dare!_  You never loved Chisato, you waste of space! She was always too good for you and all you ever did was fuck with her emotions and cheat on her with that cheap whore, Enoshima!"  
  
"I _did_ love her!" Komaeda snapped back at her. "Chisato was so beautiful...and kind...but she was the one who was going to leave me for some muscle-bound idiot!"   
  
"Well, it's too fucking bad that she didn't!" Hikari shouted back. "She would have been better off with him than she could have ever been with someone like  _YOU!_ " Hikari stormed off, her skin almost steaming with anger. Komaeda would have to wait- it was Tanaka she was after, and she soon found him with Akamine. Not even caring for what they'd been doing when she arrived, Hikari grabbed Tanaka by the lapels of his coat and slammed him into some nearby lockers, a growl rumbling in her throat.   
  
"Unhand me, mortal!" Gundam snapped at her.   
  
Hikari turned her angry gaze at him. "Cut the shit, you bastard!" She shouted at him. "It was you, wasn't it?! You killed Yukari using one of the plants in the specimen cabinet!"  
  
"That's not true!" Akamine protested. "My Gummy wouldn't kill anyone!"  
  
"Shut the fuck up!" Hikari spat at her before turning back to Gundam. "You sick fuck, I'll bet your precious Princess Sonia ordered you to do it, and you just couldn't resist, could you?!"  
  
"I've never even been anywhere  _near_  the Princess!" Gundam defended, but when he looked to Akamine for support, the Mangaka could only stare at him in disbelief.   
  
"Gummy...?" She squeaked. "She's lying, isn't she?"  
  
Normally, Hikari would stop, but in this current state of mind, she couldn't stop her mouth from moving. "Don't be fucking dumb, everyone knows the Princess has had this dog chasing her heels for ages now! You're old news!"  
  
It was then that one of Gundam's hamsters bit Hikari's hand and she let go of him, giving the Breeder enough time to kick her to the ground and take off running. Hikari quickly picked herself up and took off after him. She chased him through the hallways, shoving past students and using her great jumping ability and momentum to jump over obstacles that Gundam put between them; a stack of chairs that had been knocked over were quickly overcome with a great leap- Hikari had grown up around enough big cats to know how to jump and run like they could, and she'd be damned if she let her prey escape her now, but as she turned a corner into an empty hallway, Gundam Tanaka was nowhere to be seen. A weight dropped in Hikari's gut- this was starting to feel like a trap, and with exhaustion quickly catching up on her, she was starting to get the feeling that this probably wasn't one of her better ideas- that was usually Naoto's department, to be entirely honest- and she was starting to consider leaving before something bad happened, but she had a feeling that she'd already walked into a trap.   
  
"Nanase-san..." Hikari's blood ran cold as she looked behind her to see Komaeda standing there with a knife in his hand, the blade covered and stained with dried blood. "Are you lost again? Poor little tigress..." He gave a smile that chilled her to the bone. "Why are you so afraid...? You're about to see Chisato again...'   
  
"So it  _was_  you," Said Hikari. " _You_  killed Chisato...!"  
  
Komaeda held up the knife with the beginning of a mad chuckle. "She's right here," He told her with that frightening smile on his face. "I couldn't bring myself to clean the blood off, you see. I couldn't stand the thought of having to live without her by my side. She was my first love, after all."  
  
Hikari felt sick to her stomach as she swallowed a lump in her throat. "You're sick...!" She spat at him. "You never loved Chisato, you just wanted to keep her for yourself! You played with her head and used her secret weaknesses to make her go running back to you!" She took a step back, ready to run if she needed it. "You didn't deserve her!"  
  
"I know." Komaeda took another step forward. "But...she did tell me that she didn't care what anyone said. "They just don't understand, Nagito-kun," she told me. "I love you. I know you would never do anything to hurt me." That time with Enoshima-san was a mistake, and I think I did her a favour by killing her. Now she'll always be my beautiful flower, not the ugly weed that tried to leave me." His mad smile grew into a crazed grin. "And soon, Yoshihara-san will get to remember you while you're still so beautiful, too. After all, it was you who tried to make my Chisato-chan leave me for that grease monkey in Class 78."  
  
Hikari wanted to tell him to shut up and leave Minoru out of this, but there were heavy footsteps behind her and she turned to see a tall, very muscular young man wearing a chain around his neck. "Ah, I almost forgot." Komaeda put Hikari in a choke-hold with one arm, the cold steel of the knife pressing against her neck. "Nidai-san would like a word with you." Hikari struggled as Nidai advanced on them. He looked twice as scary as Oogami, not to mention built like a bulldozer. Komaeda released her just as his huge fist came flying at her, connecting with her stomach and knocking her to the floor. Pain exploded through her body and Hikari barely dodged having her head stomped in as she rolled to one side. She tried to crawl away, but Nidai's massive hand grabbed her leg and he tossed her into some lockers nearby, her body leaving a dent in the metal before she flopped uselessly to the floor, still alive, but not for much longer if she couldn't get away. Nidai began to advance on her again, and Hikari started to pull herself to her feet to try and at least give herself a chance to fight back or get away, but with no one to help and nowhere to run, she was starting to regret letting her anger get the best of her- though it wasn't the first time, it may very well be the last.   
  
 _"Chisato-chan...Naoto-kun...Yoshihara-kun...I'm so sorry..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, did not mean to traumatise anyone there. In any case, I might as well let you all know that Yukari's death is similar to that of another philosopher, Socrates. Socrates was given the death sentence and was forced to drink poison. Gundam may have cooked up the poison, but who slipped it in her drink? 
> 
> Also, in case you're all wondering, Hikari does have something for Minoru Yoshihara. He's my friend Prophet's character from her fic, Despair's Last Resort, which you should all go and check out. It's getting to the end so you should all try to catch up before she finishes it! Other characters of hers, Kazumi Katsuya and Shizuka Matsuki make an appearance in this chapter as well.


	6. Wake the Tiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nidai awakens the tiger, Mondo's fucking had it with Komaeda, Shizuka misses her friend and we get a kiss, just in time for Christmas!

A hand shot out and grabbed Hikari's wrist just in time to avoid the punch being thrown at her. Though her balance was off and she was out of breath, Hikari was thankful that it wasn't her head that made the dent in the lockers this time and that someone had come and pulled her away, and she never thought she'd be happy to see Mondo Oowada until now.  
  
The Biker cracked his knuckles with a menacing look directed at Nidai and Komaeda. "Didn't anyone ever teach ya not to hit girls?" He gave them both a scowl that could send children running. "Looks like I'm gonna have to teach you fuckers a lesson." Komaeda started to run, and Hikari would have taken off after him had Mondo not held her back. "I'm gonna need a teacher's aide," He told her, and Hikari decided to set things aside, at least for now- Nidai had made a mistake not killing her fast enough- fan the fire, wake the tiger. Hikari sank into a fighting stance alongside Oowada just as Nidai started to laugh at them.   
  
"Two against one is hardly a fair fight," He said with a grin.   
  
"Neither is flinging me around like a chew toy," Growled Hikari, baring her teeth dangerously.   
"I'll gut you like a fish!"   
  
"Haha! Such tenacity and energy!" Nidai cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. "Very well then! Come at me!"  
  
Hikari took up on the offer and ran towards Nidai. This time she managed to dodge a fist and jumped at his face, kicking him upside the chin, then landed and headbutted his stomach as hard as she could, but this failed when Nidai grabbed her by the scruff and tossed her back towards Mondo. The biker came at him next and the two began to trade punches while Hikari tried to sit up, holding a hand to her bleeding eyebrow that was stinging like hell. Mondo would have fought with dudes bigger than Nidai before, she thought as she tried to get steady and spat out some blood. She cursed silently- she'd bit the inside of her mouth when she'd hit the ground.   
  
Unfortunately, Nidai had managed to grab Mondo by the neck and had him backed up against the wall, laughing as the younger man struggled in his grip. "So tell me," Nidai gloated. "How does that feel? The crushing despair of defeat!"  
  
Hikari roared and launched herself at the arm Nidai was holding Mondo's neck with, sinking in her nails and teeth and growling when she felt the metallic taste of blood on her tongue and the feeling of flesh and fabric giving way as she raked her sharpened nails along his arm. She'd wanted it to be Komaeda, but since this knucklehead had embarrassed her already in this fight, that tiger side of her just wanted to tear the bastard a new one. By the time Mondo was back on his feet, Hikari had let go of Nidai, taking a bloodstained scrap of cloth from his uniform with her as she balanced on all fours, growling dangerously. Mondo managed to land a few punches to Nidai's stomach while the manager was distracted by his arm, and he finally fell to his knees, but he started laughing again and this put the combatants on edge. This guy just would not quit!  
  
Hikari spat the piece of fabric out and jumped on one of Nidai's knees, sinking in her teeth and clawing at it before he could get up. Now Mondo was starting to get a little freaked out-he'd heard that Hikari was scary when she was pissed, but this was crazy. He grabbed the conservationist around the middle and dragged her away before she could do any more damage than neccesary. Nidai wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.   
  
Soon, Hikari had calmed down that Mondo felt it right to let her walk on her own. "Feel better getting that out of your system?" He asked.   
  
"No," Grumbled Hikari. "I probably look like hell."  
  
"Yeah, you kinda do. But what was that, man?" He looked down at the underclassman in disbelief. "You just started fuckin' mauling the guy!"  
  
"...It's my rule, you see. For when I get mad." The conservationist rubbed some dried blood out of her eye. "Fan the fire, wake the tiger. I've worked with big cats most of my life, so I copy their behaviour, and a lot of it comes out when I get really pissed." She gave a casual sniff and rolled her shoulders a bit. "If you hadn't pulled me off when you did, Nidai would have been dead by now. Instinct's been driving me a lot lately since...yeah..."  
  
Mondo thought over that for a bit as they walked to the Nurse's station. "I've heard that no one's caught the fucker who killed your friend."  
  
A growl rumbled in Hikari's throat. "I know who did it," She told him. "Komaeda told me not long before you showed up that he killed Chisato and kept the blood on his knife as a trophy. She said she was going to leave him, so there's your motive."  
  
"Woah, wait, who was she leaving him for?" Asked Mondo. "I mean, not that it's a bad thing, dude's out of his fuckin' mind."  
  
Hikari knew the answer to that, but chose not to tell. "I don't know," She lied. "Some dude with muscles or whatever. She could have just been done with relationships and Komaeda was making shit up; I stopped believing everything that comes out of his mouth a long time ago."  
  
Eventually they stopped outside the Nurse's Station, but while Hikari had her hand on the handle, Mondo kept walking. "Oi, Oowada! Where the heck are you going?"  
  
"I gotta see someone about something." And with that, the leader of the Crazy Diamonds just disappeared behind a corner, and Hikari left it at that as she walked into the nurse's office. It was best she left it alone, for now.   
\--  
Watercolour paints are always so soft in texture, no matter what hue they take on the canvas, and give the images or scenes depicted a soft, dreamlike or nostalgic feel to them. Shizuka Matsuki wasn't sure if it was her tears or the water in the jar that wet the pigment blocks and brushes as she painted the dark-haired, bespectacled girl who used to sit under the biggest tree in the garden, who used to be one of her dearest friends. Chisato used to tell her that she loved how the painter would make the flowers in her artworks look so alive, and right now, Matsuki was making the effort to make her friend look as alive as the flowers dotted around her on the canvas. She had to stop eventually- it was too hurtful to keep going. She missed Chisato; many people did. She was so kind despite her professionalism that was required of a scientist, she didn't deserve to die so young. With both Takara Tsukuda and Kyouko Kirigiri looking into the deaths, Shizuka was sure they'd find out the truth, but after the night before, the painter had become a little less confident that they would. Yukari had always been on her guard, always persevered, but now she was gone as well. The world was becoming such a frightening place now- she wished she could just wake up from it like a bad dream and everything would be normal again.   
  
"Chisato-chan...are you happy now, I wonder?" She asked no one in particular. "Did Shimizu-san follow you to the good place? Is it nice there...?" Tears flowed anew from her magenta eyes and Shizuka hid her face in her scarf as she cried. Soon, a hand settled itself on her shoulder and she looked up at Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who was looking back at her with concern.   
  
"Are you alright, Matsuki-kun...?" He asked, and his reply came in the form of Shizuka hugging him tightly around his middle and crying into his chest. Soon, Ishimaru adjusted her hold on him and held his girlfriend as close to him as he could manage.   
  
"Why is this happening?" Cried Shizuka. "Why can't things just go back to how they were?!"  
  
"I wish I knew, Matsuki-kun," Sighed Ishimaru. "I honestly wish I knew."  
\--  
Komaeda's lanky body hit the wall with a dreadful thud and he winced in pain. Mondo Oowada's hand gripping the front of his shirt and keeping him off his feet held him in place as the Biker slammed his fist into his guts and watched as the shorter boy coughed and hacked.  
  
"How's it fuckin' feel, asshole?!" Roared Oowada. "I'd love to see you try and laugh now that you're the one who's about to be fuckin' dead! I'll bet you're as scared as she was!"  
  
And Komaeda actually laughed. "Ah, so you're mad about Chisato-chan, too?" He asked casually. "She barely knew you…unless, you loved her just as much as I did?" This froze the biker in place. "Ah, did I strike a nerve? I'm right, aren't I?" Komaeda chuckled. "She could never have loved someone like you, and you know it. I doubt anyone else could have loved her if she left me, either. Besides, who's to say that you wouldn't have wound up killing Chisato-chan with all this brute strength? You never even got to tell her your name."  
  
This was what set the biker off.  His fist crashed into Komaeda's face with a sickening crunch as the skinny boy's nose broke and started to bleed. "YOU'RE A REAL FUCKIN' PIECE OF WORK, YA KNOW THAT?!"  
  
And still, Komaeda had the nerve to laugh. "I saw you standing by her coffin. I've seen you standing under her tree in the gardens. I even remember when you were going to ask her to join you for dinner not that long ago. You even tried to leave her flowers on Valentine's Day this year, thinking you'd have a chance. At least now we can both remember her for how beautiful she was, and you can live with the despair-inducing regret that she was never yours."   
  
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU BASTARD, I'M GONNA RIP YOU TO PIECES FOR WHAT YOU PUT HER THROUGH!" Mondo's words were punctuated by the pounding of his fist into Komaeda's body as rage started to consume and blind him. "I LOVED HER! I FUCKING LOVED THAT GIRL! AND NOW? NOW I'M NOT GONNA GET A CHANCE TO TELL HER THAT! HER FRIENDS ARE FUCKING MISERABLE, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" One final punch, and Komaeda finally stopped laughing as he started to realise that Mondo meant business. "You'd better start sayin' your fuckin' prayers, 'cuz I'm about to send you straight to hell!" However, just as the biker's fist was poised to break the lucky student's skull open like a watermelon, he could have sworn he could feel someone's arms around his midsection for a second and heard a tiny voice saying, "Don't!" Mondo's fist stayed in the air for a few moments more, shaking with anger before it finally dropped to his side.   
  
He let go of Komaeda and didn't even look at the lucky student as he slumped to the ground, still laughing despite the fact he was bleeding and probably had a broken rib. "It seems…she still loves me after all…"  
  
But Mondo Oowada just turned and walked away with Komaeda's laughter still echoing in his ears.  
\--  
Hikari left the nurse's station in one hell of a bad mood. She hated Mikan Tsumiki's constant snivelling and doubted that the Super High School Level Nurse's medical talent when she was so dependent on others for mental strength and approval, but at least she knew how to do her job right. With a hand held to her right eye to cover up the stitches in her eyebrow, Hikari started to make her way back to the bio-lab to lick her wounds and probably cop a lecture from Naoto for starting fights. However, half-way there, she heard someone running after her and her nerves started to prickle with irritation- if it was Komaeda again, she was going to mop the floor with his stupid, fluffy hair and make him lick the floor of the bio-lab clean until his tongue turned from silver to black.   
  
However, that wasn't the case.  
  
"Nanase-san! Hey, wait up!"  
  
Hikari's nerves sparked, but this time for a different reason as she turned to see Minoru Yoshihara, Super High School Level Veterinarian hurrying towards her.  
  
"Yoshihara-sempai?" Hikari kept her hand over her eye so Minoru didn't have to see the bits of surgical thread sticking out of her brow. "What's up? I thought you were busy with Miyazaki today, some kind of project he was working on?"  
  
"He can find another model," Panted Minoru. "I heard you were in a fight and I got worried and…!" He stopped for a moment and cleared his throat when he realised he'd raised his voice a bit too much for comfort. "Y-yeah, I…I just needed to make sure you were okay."  
  
Hikari blushed and nodded. It was no secret to anyone that she had a crush on the veterinarian despite how much she'd tried to keep it to herself, but once Teruteru had gotten word of it he just fed it to the gossip mill and it got around at warp factor nine. Porky was never any good at keeping his mouth shut once he got his paws on some juicy gossip.   
  
"Yeah," Hikari coughed awkwardly. "I'm fine."  
  
"That's, uh…" Minoru cleared his throat again. "That's good. Look, um…can I talk to you? I mean, I'm already doing that, but, like…can we maybe go somewhere a little more private?"  
  
Hikair was starting to get suspicious, though the feeling bubbling in her gut could just have been nervousness or anxiety, but she nodded and gestured for Minoru to lead the way. She followed him quietly through the halls until they were standing outside Minoru's dorm room. Hikari swallowed a lump in her throat as he unlocked the door and gestured for her to go inside. The walls were lined with awards and posters of animals, and one that had the face of a tiger was hung nearest the bed caught Hikari's eye. She smiled- she'd spent most of her childhood around tigers, her interactions with them influencing her to the point that she had started to believe that she was a tiger herself. She'd been raised alongside a small litter of tiger cubs that had been born on the same day as her for the sake of an experiment her father was doing and the mother had let them all play, eat and even sleep together- she'd even accepted Hikari as one of her own. Hikari missed them all so much, and it broke her heart to think that they had all probably been hunted down or had starved to death by now.  
  
"Nice choice with the decoration," The conservationist remarked casually, not really knowing what to say. "It's um…yeah. Reminds me a bit of the souvenir store at every zoo I've ever been to."  
  
Just before Hikari could apologise when she'd realised what she'd said, Minoru burst out laughing. "Haha…yeah, I suppose you're right," He joked. "Sometimes my life feels like one, too." The two of them started to augh for a bit, but it soon died down into nervous chuckling, and then awkward silence until Minoru spoke again. "But…there is something missing from it, you know," He added, shuffling his feet a bit. "I…I know you haven't really been yourself since your friend died, Nanase-san. It's hard to go through something like that, and I can only guess at how much you and Sohma-san must be hurting right now."  
  
" If you brought me here to talk about that," Growled Hikari, "Don't."  
  
"This isn't about that, though," Rebutted Minoru. "This is about you. I've seen you so lonely, and you don't even smile anymore. All you do is scowl or frown, sometimes you look blank, like you're not even there! I'm worried for you, Nanase-san…I don't want to see you so sad anymore." He took a step towards her, taking the conservationist's hand away from her eye before gently pulling the hood of her jacket back to reveal her messy, tawny hair, looking down at her with a serious expression.  
  
Hikari stared back at him for a few moments before she looked away, blushing furiously. "W-why do you care so much, anyway?" She asked him, her tone a bit more harsh than she intended. "I mean…I'm scruffy, and loud, and…and I'm not the kind of girl you'd want, Yoshihara-sempai." She sighed heavily. "I don't deserve you."  
  
"That's the complete opposite of what I think!" Minoru's hands went to her shoulders. "The fact that you're headstrong and loud and scruffy is the exact reason why I think that you're such an amazing person!" Now it was the veterinarian's turn to blush. "I…I really like you, Hikari-chan! I want to help you smile again!"  
  
Hikari looked up at him as tears welled up in her eyes. Her heart was basically soaring with joy- here she was, finally getting an answer: Minoru  _did_  like her! Rubbing the tears from her eyes, she smiled and nodded, giving him her answer. The veterinarian smiled back at her as he moved his hands to gently cup her cheeks. Slowly, Hikari's arms wrapped themselves around Minoru's midsection before he leaned in to give her a soft kiss. Though startled at first, Hikari soon found herself kissing him back as tears streamed down her face. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Hikari Nanase was happy.


	7. The Calm Before The Storm

The news came to all that the school was being locked up, since the world outside was becoming far too hostile. In the days that came after that, some were called into the headmaster's office to learn the fates of their families, and dread would tie knots in the guts of every student when the announcement message played. There was no order to it, just random names played over the P.A system that would result in someone getting shakily out of their seat and walking to the headmaster's office with their classmates' eyes on them in worried silence, sometimes already on the brink of tears or asking if their friend could walk them there- some outright refused and had to be escorted. The Harima twins had already told almost everyone left in Class 80 about how they'd heard screaming and crying from the dorms, and Eiji had already told everyone about how he'd earned a black eye after a student he was trying to comfort turned their anger and fear on him, but they were all one to talk. Soon, names were called on the P.A system again and the worried glances were exchanged. It started with Izumi, whose entire family, save for his little step-sister, had been killed in a mass shooting and his biological father was found hanging from a bridge after thousands had been rounded up and forced to jump off of it with nooses around their necks- no word of his little sister, though, and it seemed like the boy hardly cared. Eiji came next, his parents burned alive. Suzume's Aunt and Uncle had died in a bombing, Rin and Rei's entire town and everyone they had known forced off the cliffs over the rocks in their seaside town, Tsubasa and Shiori's family completely decimated, Mika's father and her older sister, Kanon, both buried alive with their whole village, and the corpses of Tsuneo's entire family were found around their ancestral home in Gunma prefecture- they had tried to raise a small army to fight the coming invaders and lost.  
  
Hikari and Naoto had prayed with all their might that they wouldn't be next to hear their names on the P.A system, but it was inevitable, it seemed.   
  
 _"Hikari Nanase, Naoto Sohma. Please report to the headmaster's office."_  
  
Naoto, who had been in the lab that day, sighed and shut his logbook and laptop, then packed it away into a drawer which he locked up tight before he took a few moments fixing his hair and tie in his reflection in the glass pane of the chemical cabinet. Tsubasa was nowhere to be found, his visits to the lab and Naoto's dorm had halted altogether and they hadn't had time together since Shiori's grief had gotten so bad that she'd gone almost out of her mind, the poor woman. Perhaps, Naoto had concluded, she had given in to this sickness of despair that had been gripping the school. Tsubasa couldn't leave his cousin alone for a minute without coming back to catch her trying to wander off somewhere in a mad haze of almost drunken giggles and mumbling about her Yuki-chan calling her to join him- once he had even caught her almost about to jump from her window before all of the windows in the school were covered up with thick iron plates. He just didn't know what to do about his cousin's madness anymore and Naoto felt horrible that he couldn't help either of them. It was his job as a scientist to make things better for people, dammit! The biologist gave a frustrated sigh as he left the lab. He'd just about had it by now with this whole situation. Since the Super High School Level Forensics Expert and Super High School Level Coroner were both killed in the initial riots that had broken out at the school, Naoto had taken up both their jobs, identifying bodies and giving information to Kyouko Kirigiri or Takara Tsukuda, Super High School Journalist, in the class above, both of whom had been pestering him almost constantly for a new lead.  
  
Naoto had wanted to laugh about something- anything- but it didn't feel right. He hated this, not knowing if it was okay to laugh or cry in times like these. He blamed his deadbeat father for that, for all the years he'd spent having his head kicked about for the smallest of things, for all the years he was never allowed to laugh or smile. Even when his baby brother was born, poor little baby Ichirou was often terrorised by their father whenever he cried or made a noise of any kind. God bless their mother for taking them away from that man. He was never any good for them, and he had been extremely rude and cruel to his own wife and boys- thank all the powers that be that Sayuri Sohma took her sons, whom she loved despite them being forced on her, and gave them a life that was  _worth_  living, with friends who actually liked them and missed them when they weren't around. Were they okay, he wondered; Had Ichirou gotten any bigger? Had he started walking? Was his mother still alive? The woman was a survivor, but in these times, that was barely enough to survive the destruction outside of the school. All Naoto had were prayers to grasp at now, seeing as he had very little else. No one came in, no one went out- that was the new law here.  
  
Hikari had been with Minoru that day when her name was called alongside Naoto's, and she held his hand tightly as he took her to the Headmaster's Office. There was no way her father had been killed. Nobuo Nanase was known for being a quick thinker- he would have gotten out of Thailand as quick as possible if things got too heated. He was a smart man, he'd get out of there and probably head somewhere quiet- India, then Tibet, if he could manage it, or Nepal in the best case scenario- and wait out the rest of the chaos. All Hikari had to do was live long enough to see him again.   
Sitting on the couch in Headmaster Kirigiri's office, Hikari fiddled nervously with the hem of her hoodie as Naoto sat beside her with his hands clasped together in front of him, trying to keep an air of professionalism about him as Kirigiri just gave a sympathetic smile. "Please, have some tea and biscuits. We have a lot to talk about."  
  
Naoto poured him and Hikari some tea, but neither ate anything. "In all honesty, Headmaster, we'd prefer if you'd get to the point," Said the biologist. "Hikari and I have been worried enough about our families, and we  _are_  scientists. Dancing around the problem at hand isn't our style."  
  
Kirigiri nodded understandingly. "Of course…let's begin." He took out a manila folder and opened so all present could see its contents. "Miss Nanase, your father was last seen heading up into the mountains near the Indian border. We don't know if he's alive or not, but given what we've heard from you about him, I'm sure it's all going to be alright." Hikari sighed, relieved, but nodded dumbly. Of course her father was okay, a Nanase doesn't know the meaning of 'defeat'. However, the same couldn't be said for Naoto. "Mister Sohma, we don't know what happened to your mother and brother. There was a refugee truck headed for a safe zone, but communication has been lost, so I don't know if they're alive or not…I'm so sorry."  
  
Naoto didn't take this as well as Hikari did, slamming his fists on the table. "Impossible…! That's completely illogical! Mom and Ichirou…they have to be alive!"  
  
"Mister Sohma…!"  
  
"You can't just tell me you don't know!" Naoto stood up, eyes brimming with tears as he scowled at Kirigiri. "That's not how it works! Are they alive?! Yes or no?!"  
  
Hikari stood not long after Kirigiri got to his feet. "Naoto-kun, calm down…!" She set her hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes you have to settle for 'maybe', remember?! You're not helping your Mom or Ichirou like this!"  
  
"Miss Nanase's right," Added Kirigiri. "You're not going to help your family like this."  
  
"Not since we were all locked in here!" Naoto stuck an accusing finger in Kirigiri's face. "A decision I recall  _you_  making for all of us without even considering that we could take in others who needed shelter!"  
  
"As your Headmaster, I can't allow my students to be in danger--!"  
  
"We're still in danger being all cooped up in here! Someone in Class 79's already disappeared, more are turning up dead, and no one is trying to find out who's behind it all because of what happened to Yukari! Tsukuda and Akamine are getting threats, just like she did! If you care so much about your students, then why are you letting them go through this?!" It was rare for Naoto to raise his voice like this, and Hikari had to start pulling him away as he spat ugly words at the Headmaster until they were out of the office. As soon as they'd cleared the door and Minoru had shut it behind them, Naoto broke free and landed a punch in Hikari's gut, making her drop to her knees while he ran off, presumably to his dorm.   
  
Minoru helped Hikari to her feet as soon as she could stand, but she immediately threw her arms around him and burst into tears. Neither of them didn't have to say anything- the situation was clear. Hope's Peak was no longer safe for anyone and never had been- but where else could anyone go?  
  
\--  
  
With the laughter of the Lucky Student he'd just been beating the crap out of still echoing in his head, Mondo Oowada had returned to his room and proceeded to let out his anger on pretty much everything, throwing his fist into a wall, tossing a chair across the room and knocking over a lamp, screaming until it was exhausting to do anymore, then finally sitting on his bed with his head in his hands as his shoulders began to shake. God, he felt like such a fucking failure. He got his own brother killed, his whole gang was gone because he wasn't there to protect him, then he couldn't even save the girl he had a crush on, and now he couldn't even avenge her by killing her psychotic boyfriend who had slit her throat because he could have sworn that was her voice in his head begging him not to and her arms around his middle to hold him back and god dammit why was he so fucking useless?! Tears began to roll down the biker's face. He'd loved that girl and he didn't have the guts to tell her when he should have, and now she was gone forever and he couldn't deal with it. "I'm sorry," He said quietly as he began to cry. "I'm sorry, kid...I'm so sorry...I could'a saved ya...I loved you, god dammit...!"   
  
God, he'd give anything to pass her in the hallway just to say 'hello' one more time, to go back to when he'd found her crying and convinced her to hang out with him for a while instead of letting her go anywhere near that asshole or to at least when she was about to be killed so he could have saved her and exposed that psychotic jackass for who he was. If it changed anything and meant she'd still be alive, Mondo would have traded all those tomorrows for just one more yesterday where everything was fine and nothing had gone as bad as it did in his life and none of this was happening and his gang and his brother and Chisato were still here and she was his girl and she was happy. More tears started to fall and Mondo was starting to wish he could just tear his heart out of his fucking chest so it'd stop hurting so much.  
  
Would she have at least given him a chance? Sure, they'd barely known each other, but she was beautiful and strong and smart and he'd wanted to know her better, as long as it could have been a chance that she would have lived. But if that was the case, why had he heard her voice in his head telling him not to kill that fluffy-haired bastard? That was what confused him the most. Had she really still loved that psycho in the end, even after all the pain he put her through, after he had taken so much of her time and patience and now her life? How was he to know, anyways? It was just confusing and painful to think about. It wasn't like he could just ask Chisato why she stayed with the guy, he wasn't a medium or anything.  
  
Then, it hit him- he wasn't a spirit medium, but Mondo had heard that one of the students in the class below was. Maybe they could help him get some answers? It was a long shot, but surely it would be better than not knowing. Maybe it could have helped Nanase as well to know why her friend never left her killer, on the off chance this person agreed to help. He'd have to ask Ishimaru's girlfriend if she knew of a Medium in her class. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try. He had to speak to her one last time.   
  
\--  
  
Chiyo Ueda had been having nothing short of an awful week. Students had been dying left and right, Kumiko had been crying to her over Tanaka cheating on her, and now she was starting to sense that things were only going to get worse. Something would have to be done soon before it was too late, but what?   
  
A knock on the medium's door brought her out of her thoughts as a voice came from the other side. "Chiyo-san, could you open up? It's Matsuki."  
  
Chiyo sighed and went to the door. What could Matsuki want at a time like this? The painter stood on the other side with a young man behind her whose face held a solemn, but serious expression. "Who is this?" Asked Chiyo.   
  
"This is Oowada-sempai, he's Ishimaru-kun's friend," Matsuki explained. "He needed to speak to you about something, so I lead him here."  
  
Chiyo took a look at Oowada, trying to read his expression for any purpose as to why he was here and gave it some thought before nodding. "Very well then. Come in, Oowada-san, and let's see what I can do for you." She sent Matsuki on her way and shut the door behind him once they were both inside her room and sitting on the floor. "Now, then. What can I do for you?"  
  
Oowada seemed to be thinking over his words as he cleared his throat and clenched his fists. "I...I've heard ya can talk to spirits n' stuff, right?" He asked slowly.   
  
Chiyo raised an eyebrow. "I am capable of such things, yes."  
  
"So...if I asked...you'd prolly help me talk to someone dead, right?" Oowada seemed to be hopeful, but Chiyo knew too well what he wanted.  
  
"It...it really does depend on a lot of things," Chiyo explained carefully. "If you want to channel a spirit, it does involve quite a risk. For all my experience, there can still be mistakes. I might not be able to make the connection or even summon some sort of evil spirit, and it will be difficult to expel it."  
  
Oowada still seemed hopeful. "I just need to talk to someone...she stopped me from doin' something really stupid." His tone was sombre, yet pleading in a way as he turned his gaze to the floor. "I...I know who it could'a been...I need to speak to her one more time..." Chiyo watched him, and she did feel awful for him- it seemed that he really did love this girl. "I should'a been there, dammit!" His fist hit the floor with a dreadful thud. "I should'a been there to protect her! She didn't deserve what she got!"  
  
"You're talking about Chisato Ueda, aren't you?" The medium asked. "A tragic loss. She was such a kind person, from what I've heard."  
  
"I wanted to tell her...I wanted to tell her I'm sorry..." Oowada's shoulders began to shake. "I loved her...I barely said a word to her, but I could see she was perfect...I never told her..." He looked up at Chiyo, tears starting to stream down his face. "Please...you gotta help me..."  
  
Chiyo thought this over. This young man wanted to speak to the girl he liked because he felt responsible for her death, in a way, and she had apparently stopped him from doing something stupid, but the risk outweighed the need. It was difficult to say if it would even work, either. It was possible that a malevolent entity could pretend to be this girl he missed so much and make his suffering worse or manipulate his current emotional weakness. Chisato wouldn't have wanted him to take such a risk, not even for her sake.   
  
"I understand what it's like to lose someone you love. I know what you're going through, and I'm so sorry that you never had your chance to tell Chisato that you cared so much about her." Chiyo chose her words carefully. Grief counselling wasn't her strong suit, but she had to let him down gently. "I wish I could help you, but with the current situation, there's too great a risk of me channelling the wrong person, or something worse altogether. Chisato wouldn't have wanted you to put yourself or others in such danger. But, if you say she stopped you from doing something foolish..." Chiyo smiled at him. "I think you already have your answer from that alone, wouldn't you?"  
  
Oowada went silent for a moment and seemed to go still as he bowed his head. Tears still fell and his entire body shook as if he were cold, even as he tried to speak, perhaps in an attempt to form another reason why he wanted to speak to Chisato so badly. "Do ya think...she'd blame me?" He asked; his voice weak, but loud enough to be heard. "C-can't I even ask 'er that?"  
  
"I'm sure she doesn't." Chiyo kept her smile. "Chisato was such a forgiving person, from what I'm told, though I'm sure she would have forgiven you if you felt responsible for what happened to her, though I'm sure you didn't have anything to do with it...right?"  
  
"Of course I didn't, dammit!" Oowada's fist struck the floor again, a little harder this time. "What the hell are you trying to pull?!"  
  
"I'm not trying to 'pull' anything," The medium said curtly. "All I'm saying is that Chisato would not think you are in any way responsible for what happened to her. Even if I were to channel her, she would say the same things I've told you, if not almost all of them. Getting angry and raising your voice won't change my mind." There was silence again for a long time between the two of them before Chiyo spoke. "I would say the same thing to Nanase and Sohma if they asked me what you have, Oowada-san. Think about it. Chisato wouldn't want this for anyone she left behind. It's hard to make the connection, seeing as she's already crossed over to the other side, but I believe that she's still with you in some ways." Her face softened into a smile again. "It is said that a person truly dies when everyone has forgotten their name. As long as you keep her in your memory, then I believe she will never truly leave you."  
  
Oowada went silent for a few moments before he stood up and left without saying a word. Chiyo watched him leave, but didn't try to stop him or even say goodbye- it wouldn't have been right to speak. She worried for him, though, and the others. The visions she had seen haunted the medium's mind; a school of death and despair ruled by cruelty and madness, and she saw only death for any who stayed. Hopefully there would be time to save who could be saved before the darkness swallowed the school, and all who were still inside when it did.


	8. Alexithymia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I certainly took my time. Don't worry, this fic isn't over yet. There's about four chapters to go, more or less. I think. Ah well.

_**Alexithymia:**  The inability to identify emotions or express them in a verbal manner.  
\--  
“So it’s settled then. We leave tomorrow night while everyone’s asleep. Remember to keep quiet about the whole thing. We’ll meet up in my dorm in twenty-four hours- make sure you’re ready._  
\--  
“What do you think of all this, Tsuneo-kun?”  
  
Tsuneo looked to his beloved, who was staring into her cup of tea. He’d been worried about Mika ever since they’d heard the horrible news about their families. She barely spoke now, responding in short sentences to things she often had more to say about- it didn’t sit right with him, but Tsuneo trusted that Mika was capable of keeping herself in check. She was a mortician after all; for her, death wasn’t just a part of everyday life, it  _was_  her life, and Mika had worked so hard to remove the stigma from other morticians and undertakers like herself, offering grief counselling and earning a reputation with some influential old families, much like the Kurenai clan, and now all her hard work was being made a mockery of by all this senseless death that surrounded the school. It was awful to hear all the accusations in the hallways of her being the source of the problem just because she worked with dead people.  
  
“It’s madness, Lady Mika.” He reached over and held her hand. “Savagery and madness.”   
  
“Yes, I suppose that is true.” Mika sighed. “How could anyone even think of doing something like this? All this death, all this despair- it’s unnatural. It’s not  _right._ ” She looked to him and squeezed his hand. “You’ve heard about Ikeda-san? Since Sasaki-san’s death, she hasn’t even been herself, the poor thing.”  
  
Tsuneo nodded grimly. “I hear that she moans in the night.”   
  
Mika shuddered. “She does. Sometimes I hear her singing a haunting melody. I fear she’s gone mad.”  
“And yet Yamano-san tries to keep her safe,” Tsuneo finished, shaking his head. “I don’t think anyone has the heart to tell him it’s not worth the effort.”  
  
The two were quiet before Mika spoke again. “Speaking of current happenings in the girls’ dormitories, have you spoken to Akamine-dono since the party?”   
  
Tsuneo wanted to smack himself in the forehead. “No, no…with what has happened to you, I fear it slipped my mind.”   
  
Mika actually giggled, the first giggle Tsuneo had heard from her since this mess began. “I’ll be fine, Tsuneo-kun. You shouldn’t just forget your friends simply because I am unwell. Akamine-dono needs all the support she can get after that mess with Tanaka-san and Princess Nevermind, after all.”  
  
“Lady Mika…” Tsuneo went to object, but Mika was having none of it.  
  
“Go. That’s an order.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Suzume will be here soon and I would rather you not be present while I take care of her.”  
  
Figuring he didn’t really have an argument, Tsuneo stood and left. However, as he was heading towards Kumiko’s room, he had an idea as to how to cheer up his friend, and headed back to his room to grab something that he thought would help.  
  
\--  
  
Kumiko rarely felt safe in her own room anymore. Headmaster Kirigiri might have had it all cleaned, but it didn’t change anything since she had learned the truth about Gundam and Sonia, no thanks to Nanase’s outburst- part of her wondered if Gundam had survived being chased by her, part of her hoped he’d gotten torn to shreds. Sitting on her bed with her knees tucked to her chest, Kumiko tried to hide her face and pretend the world wasn’t falling apart around her ears. Despite all her energy, she just wanted to hide here in the quiet of her room until Chiyo came to fetch her for dinner.  
  
Suddenly, a knock came at the door. Kumiko was slightly surprised, seeing as it was still too early for dinner, and she eyed the door suspiciously. “Who is it?” She called.  
  
The door opened, and a familiar tall figure appeared, scars and all. “Akamine-san,” Said Tsuneo. “Is now a bad time?”  
  
“Tsun-tsun?” Kumiko stood up and tilted her head to the side. “But I thought you were too busy with Mikichi, you never visit me anymore!”  
  
Tsuneo stepped inside and hesitated, then closed the door with his foot, looking a bit uncomfortable. “With the recent bombing, I was…worried, is all.” He sighed. “But Lady Mika suggested I come and see you. I heard about what happened to your room, and your comics, and then Tanaka…I should have been there sooner--”  
  
The comic artist looked to one side. “It’s fine,” She sighed sadly. “I don’t wanna talk about him right now.”   
  
“I understand.” Tsuneo reached into his hakama and brought out what looked like an American comic book. “I thought this might cheer you up a bit, so I want you to keep it.” He handed it to her with an earnest smile.  
  
Kumiko carefully took the comic book from him, but her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when she saw the cover. “Tsun-tsun!!” She gasped. “You’re not serious, are you?!”  
Tsuneo nodded. “I have a feeling it’s better off in your hands. If anything happens to me, I don’t want the twins getting their hands on it.”  
  
“But this is your super-super special awesome first edition copy of ‘The Killing Joke’!” Kumiko turned it around so Tsuneo could see. “You told me it cost you heaps and heaps of money to get this!!”  
  
“And you told me you’d eventually give me a reason to give it to you.” Tsuneo chuckled. “But, I think after everything, you at least deserve something to make you happy. What are comic book buddies for?”  
  
Kumiko looked up at him for a moment before her eyes filled with tears. She threw her arms around her friend’s middle and sobbed into his hakama. Tsuneo sighed and put his remaining arm around the shorter girl, and felt his ‘phantom’ limb do the same- he was never going to get used to it- though he tried to ignore the feeling so as to not worry Kumiko any further. Whatever happened next, Tsuneo felt confident enough that this would be enough to make her smile again- at least, for now.  
  
\--  
  
Hikari was pretty surprised when Minoru asked her if she wanted to spend the day with him, but they had been having quite a lot of fun together, even if it was playing videogames and play-wrestling in between watching nature documentaries on TV. Minoru was already a bit roughed up where Hikari hadn’t been so gentle, but he seemed to smile through it all anyway. By now, Hikari had the boy pinned under him with a smirk on her face.   
  
“Looks like I win again,” She said. “Seriously, dude, I could let you win at least one round if you’re getting tired of getting your ass handed to you.”  
  
“No, no,” Minoru laughed breathlessly. “It wouldn’t be fair if you let me win.”   
  
“You’re sure?”   
  
“Yeah, totally sure.”  
  
Hikari was starting to get the feeling that something was up. She let Minoru sit up properly, then put her arms around his middle and laid in his lap. “You know…for a guy with a next to non-existent backbone you seem a little too okay with me putting a few bruises and carpet burns on you.”   
  
“It’s…like I said,” Minoru said with a smile, but it seemed sad. “I wanted to cheer you up by letting you decide what we do today. If that includes kicking me around, I won’t complain.”  
  
“Uh-huh…” Hikari gave him a serious look. “Why don’t you tell me what’s  _really_  up, moron?”  
  
Minoru hesitated, but then gave a soft chuckle. “Aww, Hikari-chan…are you that worried about me?”  
  
Hikari blushed bright red and scowled. “Shut up! Stop dodging the question!”   
  
Minoru just laughed and ran a hand through Hikari’s hair. “You worry too much. I’m fine, Hikari-chan, really!” He adjusted himself so Hikari’s arms were around his neck. “I’ll be okay. I just want you to be happy today.”   
  
Hikari looked him in the eye, and though she wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not, she sighed. “You’re an idiot.”  
  
“The day you don’t call me an idiot,” Said Minoru, “I’ll know something’s really wrong.”  
  
Hikari rolled her eyes, but kissed him anyway. “…hey. Can I tell you something?” Minoru nodded. “Promise you won’t tell?”   
  
“Of course I won’t.” Minoru made a zipping gesture across his lips. “You can trust me.”  
  
The conservationist looked to one side. “Well…it’s just…I’m glad you asked me to be your girlfriend. I mean, Naoto-kun’s good company and all, but his mind’s been on his work since Chisato-chan…” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Since she left us. With what happened to Yukari the other night, I don’t think I could have dealt with that alone.” She pulled him close. “I know I yell and call you an idiot, but…I really am glad that you’re with me. When we get out of this, I’ll…I’ll make you chicken pho- like my Mom used to! Sound good?”  
  
Minoru went quiet for a while, but hugged Hikari tightly, trying to hide the tears that were gathering in his eyes. “Yeah…never had it before, but I’m sure however you make it is fine.”  
  
Hikari pulled away and saw Minoru’s tears, carefully cupping his cheeks so she could brush them away. “Are you okay?” She asked.  
  
Minoru tried to smile, but it just wasn’t working. “S-sorry,” He stammered. “It…it’s just everything’s gotten me really stressed and…”  
  
“Minoru Yoshihara getting stressed?” Hikari gave a good-natured smirk. “Wow, stop the fucking presses. Hey, come on, idiot, we’re gonna make it through this, yeah?” Minoru looked like he was trying to say something and instead started to sob, and Hikari pulled him back into her arms. “Hey, why’re you crying…?” She asked. Part of her was starting to hurt, and she could feel tears welling up in her own eyes. “Stop, would ya? You’re making  _me_  cry, too!”  
  
“I’m sorry!” Minoru wailed. “I’m so sorry!”  
  
“Stop apologising, idiot!!”  
  
“How can I not?!” He squeezed her a bit. “Everything’s gone to hell! I’m scared, I don’t know where my family is, and I only just got to be with you after all this time! What if I lose you, too?!” He continued to blabber incoherently before Hikari decided she’d had enough. She broke out of his grip and slapped him hard across the face, and Minoru could only sit there in shock. Hikari’s hand was shaking.   
  
“That hurt,” She growled. “But it’s not just my hand that hurts.”  
  
“Wh…what do you mean?” The veterinarian stared at her. “Y-you just slapped me!”  
  
“Well why don’t you hit back and see what I mean, then?!”   
  
“But…I…”  
  
“I’ve been in enough fights, now hit me!”  
  
With some hesitation, Minoru pulled his hand back and struck Hikari across the face. She growled, but the conservationist didn’t do much else, and the two went quiet before Minoru spoke again. “Y-you’re right...” He sighed. “It…isn’t just my hand that hurts, either.” He rubbed his eyes and sniffled. “So…you just wanted to do that because we both need to slap some sense into each other?”  
  
Hikari smacked herself in the forehead. “No, you idiot,” She sighed. “Okay, well, sorta, but that’s not the point. I get that you miss your family. I miss mine, too. Heck, the old man could have fallen down a fucking crevasse for all I know. But what good is crying and falling apart going to do?” She took his hand. “Look. I get it, you need to fall apart, but you’re not making a lot of sense. Where do you get off thinking you’re gonna lose me?” She grinned. “You’re stuck with me, moron! Even if we have nothing else in the world, we’ll still have each other. Got it?”  
  
In the end, the two ended up washing their faces and walked hand-in-hand to the dining hall, then, afterwards, Minoru walked Hikari back to her room, the conservationist now tired from eating so much. He helped her into bed, then sat at her bedside. “You gonna be okay?” He asked.  
  
Hikari nodded. “Hey, Minoru-kun…?”   
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep?”  
  
Minoru chuckled. “Aww, that’s so cute of you.” He ran a hand over her hair. “Sure thing. Want me to sing, too?”  
  
Hikari snorted. “Since when could you sing?” Minoru shrugged. “Okay, whatever. If you want to.”   
  
She made herself comfortable, and after a while of Minoru running a hand through her hair and humming softly, she finally drifted off to sleep.  
\--  
 _”Are you sure we can’t take just one more person?”  
  
“I know how you feel, but it just isn’t going to work.”  
  
“But I---!”   
  
“I know who you’re talking about. I’m sorry, but no.”  
  
“…I know how you feel. There was someone I wanted to take, too. But we really can’t stay.”  
  
“………Hikari-chan…”_  
\--  
Hikari woke the next morning to find Minoru gone and someone frantically banging down her door and shouting for her to answer, their voice almost completely drowned out by the panicked shouts outside. A stone dropped in her gut- had someone else been killed while they'd all been sleeping? Immediately, Hikari jumped out of bed and crossed over to the door, almost throwing it open. Aoi Asahina stood on the other side with Sakura Oogami behind her, the swimmer's hair dishevelled and her eyes wide with panic, though she looked relieved.  
  
"Oh, thank god, you're still here," She sighed. "You weren't answering your door, I was starting to worry!"  
  
"What's going on here?" Asked Hikari. "Was someone killed?"  
  
"Class 79 completely disappeared last night," Said Oogami. "Did Minoru Yoshihara tell you anything?"  
  
Hikari's stomach bottomed out, her eyes wide as she shook her head and opened her mouth to answer when an aguished cry echoed from down the hallway. The three of them hurried towards the source of the noise, coming to a halt outside Shizuka Matsuki's room, where Kiyotaka Ishimaru was on his knees with her pillow tightly clutched in his arms as he cried. Mondo Oowada stood not too far away in silent support and turned to face the girls with a solemn shake of his head.  
  
"Matsuki's gone," He told them. "We searched the whole school, we couldn't find her or her classmates."  
  
"They couldn't have just left!" Exclaimed Hikari. "How the hell did they get out without anyone..." She trailed off for a moment before she gave an annoyed growl. She hadn't noticed the tears starting to form on her own face as she raced off through the school in her pyjamas towards the boys' dormitories. Eventually, she came to a skidding halt outside Minoru's room, her hands gripping the doorway before she grabbed the doorhandle and threw it open, but Minoru was nowhere to be seen. His room was a total mess, but not in the sense of a ransacking, more like he'd been in a hurry to pack, and as she took step after shaking step into the room, she noticed a letter on his desk and quickly snatched it up. Carefully folded with her name written in that near-perfect handwriting of his, she unfolded it and read it.  
  
 _'Hikari-chan,'_  It read,  _'I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was leaving. We were all sworn to secrecy about it, but believe me, I wanted to tell you, and now all I can tell you is that you need to do the same. Chiyo predicted that the school will become a 'centre of death', or so she called it, and I can't imagine you getting caught up in it- take whoever you have left and run before it's too late! I know I may never see you again, but I won't ever forget you and I'll always look forward to the day that I wake to see you again. I'm so sorry, Hikari-chan. Goodbye. -Minoru.'_  Hikari let her tears fall as her shaking hands brought the letter to her lips and sank to her knees. Things had just taken a dark turn for the worst, and if the Super High School Level Medium had predicted that people were going to die, then Hikari was starting to think it wise that she took Minoru's warning to heart- and with good timing: She was told not long after that Shiori Ikeda had committed suicide.


	9. Twilight Fades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, hadn't realised I hadn't posted this to AO3. Chapter 10 coming as soon as I can get it done.

_There is a willow grows aslant a brook_  
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.  
There with fantastic garlands did she come  
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,  
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,  
But our cold maids do “dead men’s fingers” call them.  
There, on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds  
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,  
When down her weedy trophies and herself  
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,  
And mermaid-like a while they bore her up,  
Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds  
As one incapable of her own distress,  
Or like a creature native and indued  
Unto that element. But long it could not be  
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,  
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay  
To muddy death.  
  
-Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 7  
—  
They'd found Shiori at the bottom the swimming pool, dressed in her nightgown. The poor girl hadn't been able to live without Yuki anymore, and her madness and despair had finally consumed her. Now, what was left of Class 80 sat in Tsubasa's room, contemplating all that had transpired that morning.  
  
"Shiori was what they call an 'Opheliac'," Tsubasa explained. "She always had unhealthy obsessions to the point of co-dependency and fatalism. With nothing to shift her obsessions to, she would become self-destructive- cutting herself open, intentionally giving herself more than the required dose of medicine, that sort of thing."  
  
Mika sighed. "Indeed, she lives up to the title," She said. "Even in death."  
  
Hikari stood. "Look. With more of us dropping like flies, the whole joint's emptying out." She glanced around at the faces of her classmates. "Class 79 won't be the first. The killings and disappearances are rising again, and more and more students have packed up and left. It's only us and Class 78 now. We need to get out of here."  
  
"Leave the school?!" Exclaimed Eiji. "Nanase-san, there's no way out!"  
  
"Kuronaga would have gotten everyone in Class 79 out of here somehow," Hikari replied with a shrug. "Who's to say we can't do it, too? I mean, we have the right people." She looked to Rin and Rei. The twins had an arm around the other's shoulders, looking to each other nervously. "Rin, Rei- you guys can distract the hall monitors, right?"  
  
"Should we?" Asked Rin.  
  
"Can we?" Said Rei.  
  
"You guys are the best chance we have. Those guys hate you, you can cook up something to get them away from the door. A smoke bomb, cherry bombs in the toilet- I'll show you how to make 'em in the lab." Hikari watched the two think before they both grinned and nodded. They had the right idea. Next, she looked to Izumi, who was looking down at the floor. "Nagawa? I know you don't exactly do social stuff, but we really do need your help."  
  
Izumi looked at her with the eyes of a cornered animal. Hikari knew that look. "What do you want?"

"We need you to get the door open, just long enough for us to slip through before anyone notices," The elder of the two explained. "Didn't you program the thing, anyway?"  
  
Izumi crossed his arms. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see what I can do."  
  
Suzume stayed quiet during the meeting- she knew Yukari would be doing the same thing if she were still here, an her absence was keenly felt. However, there was just one problem she had to speak up about. "Just what are we supposed to do next?" She asked. "After we're out of here, that's it- there's only two doctors here, but the water and air is so polluted that folks can't breathe."  
  
"If we stock up on supplies from the kitchen, we should be just fine." Hikari crossed her arms. "The school restocks every week, so we can take whatever we need before we go."  
  
"And? Even if we do have enough food, you're the only one with any sort of survival training."  
  
"Well, what would you rather do?!" Hikari was starting to bare her teeth. "It's either we stay here, still stuck in this city that's turned into a hellhole, or we try to escape the city and get to a safe zone and maybe die trying in the process- your fucking choice!"  
  
"Nanase-san has a point," Said Tsuneo, his hand resting on his sword. "We can all protect each other- I have my sword, the twins have knowledge of explosives, Nanase-san was raised with tigers, and both she and Sohma-san are knowledgeable in medicines."  
  
"Didn't you say you knew how to kickbox, Suzume-san?" Asked Rei.  
  
"I'd say we're all pretty ready for whatever's out there, really," Said Rin. "'Sides, Kumiko-nee-san said that Chiyo's senses were pretty accurate. I don't wanna die."  
  
Suzume gave a long sigh. "So this is what it comes down to. Stay and we die, or leave and we die." She got up. "I'll start packing."  
  
"It's settled then." Hikari turned to the rest of the group. "Do what you have to, because we have to be up bright and early. We're going to need everybody in on this if we're going to do it right."  
—  
Naoto spent the rest of the morning in the lab, preparing medicines and remedies and emergency kits out of whatever he had. This was it. They were really going to leave. Then again, his mother had taught him well to trust a woman's intuition- even if he didn't completely believe in spiritualism, he would let himself believe a medium's prediction despite his strong belief in science, in what it could prove, but all science had done here was end up as a weapon against innocent people.  
  
He cursed this school as he stuffed his laptop and logbook into the duffel bag he was packing. Chisato's research had been weaponised against the students of Hope's Peak, despite it all being under lock and key by order of the United Nations. He couldn't risk his research meeting the same fate, not after everything the Planet Earth Club had worked for. This school had planted this awful seed that spoiled the crop, and now the entire world was paying the price. He took a photo frame off his nightstand- in it was a picture of his mother and baby brother. "Don't worry, Ichirou. Big Brother's coming."  
  
A knock came at the door then, and Naoto hurriedly stuffed the photo in his bag and kicked it under his bed. Couldn't have anyone finding out. "Y-yes, come in!"  
And who else should walk through that door but Tsubasa, who shut the door behind him. "It's okay, Sohma-kun. Just me." Naoto all but threw himself into the older boy's arms, and Tsubasa held him tightly, running a hand through his hair. "Your family, right?" The actor asked. "You'll find them. I've met your mother, remember? She's tough. She and Ichirou are going to be just fine."  
  
Naoto looked up at him, the sudden impact with Tsubasa's chest having skewed his glasses as tears welled up in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. He was never good with talking when he was upset, not even to Tsubasa, but he understood. Having grown up from a family that had been in the limelight their entire lives, the Super High School Level Actor felt as if he wasn't allowed to cry or be upset except when it was on screen. They could have at least have each other now. "You'll...stay with me, won't you?"  
  
Tsubasa brought their foreheads together. "Forever. Not even death could take me from you."  
  
Naoto's fingertips came to rest lightly on the actor's cheeks. "...So dramatic."  
  
Gently, their lips met in a soft kiss, a moment of warmth and safety that they both so desperately needed as they fell back onto the bed. For now, this fucked up world didn't exist. There was only the calming embrace of the other, their whispered declarations of love, the synchronised pounding of their hearts against the other's chest, skin to skin.  
—  
Honestly, he never thought that he'd get to this point. Who knew one of the teachers had been hiding that bottle of whiskey in the storage room of the gym? Who knew he'd actually be sitting on one of the mats drinking the stuff? Whatever. At this point he didn't care if it ruined his liver or whatever- wasn't like he was going to live to see it do anything to him other than the inevitable hangovers.  
  
"Shouldn't you be with Ishimaru-san right now?" A tiny voice asked. "He's really torn up about Matsuki-senpai."  
  
"Chihiro's got it covered. I got my own shit to deal with. An' Matsuki can take care of herself- she's got Kazuya with 'er." Mondo knocked back another swig and winced as it went down. "Fuck, it burns."  
  
"High alcohol content. Of course it's going to burn."  
  
"Smartass." A pair of arms wrapped themselves around his middle from behind, and Mondo almost dared to hold one of the hands that rested against his midsection. "How did it all get so fucked up so fast?" He sighed. "Weren't we supposed t' be beacons of hope or whatever? This is so messed up."  
  
"Fate had other plans, it seems."  
  
"Fate can suck my dick." Another swig. "It's just us and yer' classmates here now. I guess I can put up with that for the rest of my natural life- never had much else goin' fer' me."  
  
"Well...maybe you can make something else of it? You still have all the facilities of the school at your disposal." A head rested against his back. "You can work on a new talent."  
  
"...I guess I can always be a carpenter. Make somethin' instead 'a breakin' it."  
  
"That's the spirit."  
  
Mondo took another look at the bottle- he'd gotten halfway through it by now- and took another few big gulps of it. He was used to the burn now. "Still...can't help but feel like the worst ain't over yet. We still don't know who started all this."  
  
"You'll have to be careful, I guess. Solve the mystery yourselves. As long as you play it safe, everything should be fine."  
  
"Yeah, well...safe ain't my strong suit." Mondo rubbed his neck. "An' I'm shit at bein' careful, Ain't my style."  
  
"You'll work something out. I know you will. Diamonds are forged from high pressure, aren't they?"  
The biker turned to look, but there was no one there, the feeling of arms around his middle and the head on his back suddenly gone. He stood, gripping the bottle by the neck, meaning to throw it at a nearby wall, but he just couldn't. Instead, he capped it and put it back where he found it. _Time to go make somethin' of myself._  
—  
Hall monitors stood guard in front of the huge vaulted door, flashlights in hand and otherwise unarmed. Hikari had been watching their rotation all day, and now that the last rotation was out of earshot, the plan could be put into motion. She looked back at Rin and Rei and nodded, giving them the signal. They'd already kept the other hall monitors busy all day by carrying out their usual shenanigans- cherry bombs in the toilets, firecrackers set off in the cafeteria, itching powder in the laundry piles, the whole nine yards- just to give them a proper shot at this. Their lighters clicked, the flames illuminating their faces for a moment before the fuses of their smoke bombs started sparking and spitting as they were tossed out towards the door. The hall monitors' flashlights shone on the bombs, but were too late to do anything before they went off, spewing smoke everywhere. Suzume and Hikari went in first, knocking out the hall monitors so Izumi could get to the door controls. He'd programmed the thing, and had a master override input for the whole system. The alarms wouldn't sound, but the door itself made enough noise as it rumbled along the track.  
  
Despite all their preparations, they weren't prepared for the sight that awaited them beyond that door- a scene of utter desolation and ruin, not a sign of life for miles into the distance. The remnants of Class 80 froze for a moment, all of them looking to each other. This was it. This was the moment everything came down to. Voices started to echo behind them, and with a silent agreement, all of them ran off into the night. The door rumbled shut behind them, and it was now that they felt the cold in their faces as they walked towards the huge fountain that intersected the paths between the main school and the reserve class campus. It was shattered now, the water foetid and rife with algae. On Tsuneo's advice, they decided to save their flashlights for when they were off school grounds. Hikari cast one last look at the school as they walked off. _So long, Hope's Peak._  
  
Bodies littered the path- mostly old corpses that were still rotting, some students, some civillians with children. Even Mika, who had spent her whole life tending to stiffs, was repulsed by the sight. The dead had not been honored. She was no coroner, but the way the bodies had been mutilated and left to decompose made it clear that the killings out here had been as mindless as the ones in the school. Tsuneo wrapped his remaining arm around her, trying to block her vision of the bodies. The stench of death was everywhere as they reached the main road, finding ruined buildings, crashed cars and more bodies- some fresh. However, what caught Izumi's eye was the ruined piles of what looked like robotic parts. He walked over to one, Hikari following behind.  
  
"Nagawa?" She crouched down with him as he went though the wreck. It looked like some sort of giant teddy bear, one half black with a scar-like red eye and the other white with a black button eye. "What do you think this thing is?"  
  
"It's weaponised," The Roboticist stated matter-of-factly. "There's blood on the claws, so I'm guessing it got some hits in before it was destroyed..." He looked over at a wrecked car, a body half hanging out from the shattered windshield. "Probably by that. A car travelling at a certain speed can still turn steel into a heap of junk metal."  
  
"I guess that's why they started making them out of aluminium." Hikari took a look at that scar-like eye, then looked out into the distance- there were others like it littering the streets. "There's more of them, but their targets seem random. I mean, there were bodies of reserve course students back there, along with security guards, salarymen and regular old folk from town."  
  
Izumi wasn't listening. His eyes were focused on the wrecked bear in front of him- the further he dug through the parts, the more familiar the welding and wiring became- Souda. He'd built these things. He grit his teeth and cursed the boy he'd once called 'big brother', and the witch who probably was to blame for it all.  
  
Suddenly, the group turned back towards the woods as they heard footsteps, gleaming red lights wavering in the dark of the woods. Hikari's keen sense of smell alerted her to the scent of blood- some fresh, some old- and she growled as what seemed like a small army of those black and white bears came stepping out from among the trees. They started to laugh, an ungodly cheerful chorus as their claws glinted in the light of some few standing street lights, before they lunged at the group.  
  
Tsuneo's sword cleaved through their metal, his swift strikes decimating their attackers, but it took help from the twins to make sure he wasn't being outnumbered. Suzume started punching a path for Eiji, Mika, Tsubasa, Naoto and Izumi to escape through, but even Suzume was being overpowered- she would have been lost if Hikari hadn't torn through the bears with a terrible roar that echoed off the ruined buildings. The twins threw down some smoke bombs, and with some precious few moments to escape, they took off into the ruined city, with those bears hot on their tracks.


	10. Mutability

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So three years after I started writing this, we're finally at the end. I don't know when I'll be continuing with the rest of the series, since I have a couple of other projects to work on, but I'm glad this is finished and not just glaring at me as a WIP for over a year anymore.

_It is the same!—For, be it joy or sorrow,_  
The path of its departure still is free;  
Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;  
Nought may endure but Mutability.  
-Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mutability.  
\--  
-One Month Later-  
  
The remnants of Class 80 stood in silent vigil over the graves they'd dug. It felt wrong, burying their classmates in the burlap sacks they'd found their bodies in, but after Naoto and Tsubasa had gone missing for so long, they at least had this closure. Hikari didn't cry. She had no more tears now. Was this what despair felt like, she wondered? To stand here, helpless and waiting on some sort of sign that things would get better, only to see the same death and destruction over and over? It had to be, if that was the reality of it. Everyone else was feeling it. She could only pray that Naoto and Tsubasa were already dead before their bodies were carved up and left to rot in those bags- if Naoto's mother and brother were still alive, she didn't want to have to explain to Mrs Sohma how they'd found her son that way. And that lab- if it could even be called a lab- it smelled of death. Hikari could smell the fear in that place. The misery. It was nauseating, she just had to get the bodies and get out of that place before the smell drove her mad. The only thing she could hope for was that Chisato had personally come down from Heaven and taken them out of there.  
  
Suzume came up and placed a hand on Hikari's shoulder. "We should go. It's getting late. We don't want to get caught."  
  
Hikari sighed. "Already?"  
  
"We'll have to give them a proper burial when this is over." The drummer gently tugged her away, walking with her back towards the others. "I'm pretty sure they were proud of you. You almost gutted those losers just to get the bodies back."  
  
"It feels like Enoshima's laughing at us," The younger girl said bitterly. "It doesn't feel like a victory."  
  
"But a victory none the less." Suzume squeezed her shoulder. "And still pretty badass."  
  
They all returned to their hideout, an old apartment they'd cleared a little while back, where they gathered in what was left of the living room, sitting on the couches in silence around a television set that didn't even work anymore. All the TV stations were out anyways, and any sort of light could possibly attract unwanted visitors. It had been a month now since they'd left Hope's Peak, and things hadn't been easy. The plan right now had been to get to a Green Zone to find some sort of safety. Maybe a refugee camp so they wouldn't be alone, but with how things were looking, getting out of the city seemed impossible. Those bear things were everywhere.  
  
"So," Said Eiji, breaking the silence. "What's next? When do we start moving again?"  
  
Hikari gave a long sigh. "...I don't know. Maybe we should wait 'til things are quieter."  
  
"Well, I know that," The basketballer continued, "But we've got to at least have some kind of plan just in case we need to, right?"  
  
"Tomorrow." The conservationist rubbed her face in her hands. "We're all tired, we've just buried two classmates, we need to sleep."  
  
They were all quiet again, getting the bedrolls ready for everyone to sleep, when the TV suddenly turned on by itself, and everyone looked at the screen- displayed on it was a teddy bear, much like the ones they'd seen roaming the city, and the photos of fifteen students from Class 78. The immediate reaction was panic- TV sets give off a lot of light, so the first thing they did was put some boards over the windows- then confusion. What did that bear have to do with Class 78? To their knowledge everyone had been fine when they'd left Hope's Peak. A countdown timer ran at the corner of the screen.  
  
Izumi looked at it closely. "...Four days, twelve hours...thirty minutes...twenty seconds and counting. What the heck does this mean?"  
Everyone looked to each other nervously. Hikari just gulped. Whatever was going on, she had a gut feeling it didn't bode well.  
  
\--  
  
Two days passed. The countdown timer continued. Rin and Rei came back from scouting and reported that they'd seen other TV sets in run-down apartment buildings that were on, too. Izumi had tried tried to find the source of the broadcast and reported that it was originating from the school and being sent out onto television sets through hijacked TV signal towers and satellites. The most they could do was to wait and see what was going to happen over the next couple of days. It had become a frequent topic of hushed conversation over a meal of whatever they could scrounge up from the remains of corner shops and convenience stores.  
  
"Maybe things have died down," Eiji suggested. "Maybe it's a countdown to when the door's gonna open?"  
  
"A month after everything goes to shit?" Hikari retorted. "Not likely. The school wouldn't televise this- something's going on. I just wish we knew what."  
  
"It'll take me longer than two days to get into the cameras," Izumi sighed. "Fujisaki programmed the security firewalls, the overrides would take me weeks to figure out."  
  
"But I thought you were supposed to be some kinda boy genius." Rin leaned in over her food.  
  
"I'm a roboticist, not a programmer," Izumi corrected her coldly. "All the same, I'll get to work on it. There's gotta still be a satellite somewhere up there I can get a signal from."  
  
"Just do what you can," Hikari interjected. "Even if you can't get into the school's security system, do what you can by way of reaching out to anyone who can help us."  
The roboticist nodded, getting to his feet to retrieve his laptop. A meagre meal made of canned food was put together, and Tsuneo and Hikari took the first watch after dinner. The Samurai just sat quietly, and Hikari had just gotten used to the silence when the sudden sound of footsteps echoed from down the hall. Both of them were on their feet immediately, Tsuneo's sword out of its sheath, and Hikari growled dangerously. She'd taken to filing her nails into sharp points in place of a weapon. "Do we wake the others?" Tsuneo asked quietly.  
  
Hikari listened. "...Male. Female. Not particularly in a rush." She sniffed the crack under the door. "...Iron, and...sweets?" She looked up at him. "Definitely not a Monokuma. No laughing, so they're not more Despair crazies."  
  
The footsteps grew closer, and a voice came from behind the door. "This is where the signal was coming from, right, Yoi-chan?"  
"Yeah. Sounds like it."  
Both Hikari and Tsuneo took a step back from the door and readied themselves for a fight. Even if they weren't affected by Despair, there was always the chance that they still meant to hurt them and the others. The footsteps came to a halt just outside the door, before one of them knocked, and a woman's voice came from the other side.  
"Hello~? Anyone home?"  
  
The doorknob rattled, and almost instantly, some of the others suddenly sat up with sharp gasps and hushed sounds of alarm, some grabbing makeshift weapons- pipes, chains, box cutter knives, baseball bats with nails through them. Hikari growled, holding up a hand to tell her classmates to hold their positions, she and Tsuneo backing away from the door as the knob rattled again. Again, that voice came from the hallway.  
  
"Hello?" A sigh. "Locked...We're not here to hurt you! We're from the Future Foundation, we're here to help you!"  
  
The Future Foundation? They all looked to each other- they hadn't heard of this Future Foundation before, and saw no reason to trust these strangers after being on their own for so long in a city full of Despair crazies and those bears. Who was to say this wasn't a trap? Everyone exchanged glances, and Izumi got up, creeping across the room to crouch near Hikari.  
  
"I found them while scanning any active signals in the country," He whispered. "Apparently they're trying to fix this mess- ask them for ID, I'll run it by the system."  
  
"What was that about not being a programmer?" Hikari cocked her brow.  
  
Izumi scowled. "Just do it!" He hissed.  
  
Hikari rolled her eyes. "How do we know you're telling the truth?!" She called to them. "Show us some ID, and maybe we'll let you in!!"  
  
There was a long silence before a pair of ID cards came skidding in from under the door. Hikari snatched them up and handed them to Izumi, who scrambled back to his laptop, fingers tapping away on the keys and eyes scanning the numbers in the light of the LCD screen, along with the names Ruruka Andoh and Sonosuke Izayoi. "Looks like they're former Hope's Peak students," Izumi stated. He looked to Hikari. "They're legit- let them in."  
  
Hikari nodded and looked to Suzume and Tsuneo. "Open the door. Slowly."  
  
Suzume and Tsuneo exchanged looks, then unlocked the door and steadily let it swing open. Standing on the other side were two people, roughly in their late teens or early twenties- one was a young woman with pale pink hair and dressed in a fluffy pink parka, the other a young man with blond hair, dressed in a long, crimson trenchcoat- and the girl walked in first. "Wow, so this is what's left of Class 80?" She blinked as she looked over all of them. "Is Jirou-chan here?"  
  
"How did you know him?" Asked Suzume, putting her hands in her pockets. "He didn't talk to anyone besides Ayanokoji."  
  
"Before we were asked to leave, he took some classes from me." She smiled proudly. "I had to make sure he was qualified to take over my title of Super High School Level Confectioner. But that's beside the point. The real reason we're here is to take you to headquarters."  
  
"Headquarters?" Hikari eyed this woman warily.  
  
"You've already lost two classmates, right?" The woman put her hands on her hips. "If you stay, the rest of you could lose your lives. It's best you come with us already."  
  
Silence crept over the room as the remnants of Class 80 all looked to each other. Tsuneo looked to Mika, and with a nod to each other, he helped his beloved to her feet. Hikari looked to him, confused. "Kurenai-san?"  
  
"We can't stay here," The Samurai said firmly. "Eventually we'll be found, and considering we're starving and alone...there's really no other option."  
  
Rin soon stood up, too, his sister right behind him, then Eiji. "He's got a point," The basketballer sighed. "Those bears' numbers are increasing. I don't wanna end up like Sohma or Yamano."  
  
Izumi soon packed up his laptop and got to his feet and went to stand with the twins and Eiji, but Hikari was still hesitant. Suzume got up and knelt down next to her, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Nanase-san. You owe it to Ueda-san and Sohma-san to live."  
  
"But what if it's a trap?" Hikari hissed to her.  
  
"Then we'll deal with it." The drummer gave her shoulder a squeeze. "But say it's not a trap. We have a chance of surviving. No more starving, no more having to ration food or go for nights on end without a shower." When Hikari didn't respond, Suzume shook her lightly. "...Think of Yoshihara. How would he feel if something happened to you?"  
  
Biting back tears, Hikari got to her feet and nodded. They all packed up what they could, then followed Ruruka and Izayoi out of the building, and into an armoured truck. Security guards gave them all water and some biscuits to give them some degree of comfort during the drive- and it was a long one. The group had mostly fallen asleep by the time they reached a secured port, and were woken by the guards to board a ship headed toward a mountainous island. Hikari was the only one who stayed awake during the voyage, curled up on her side in the cabin she shared with Suzume. Now that she had a moment to think about it, everything had happened so quickly after Chisato was killed. The good things that came after it always seemed to be spoiled by the bad. Losing friends, finding love and new camaraderie, forced out into a destroyed world and only just surviving.  
  
Still, she wouldn't let herself cave into despair. It would take time, but they would heal- but she had a feeling that this was far from over.


End file.
